Digimon: Waking the Dragons: Reconciliation
by Quinton Notwen
Summary: Reality is cracked and something dark moves through the veil across the worlds. A warning comes to Gennai threatening the end of destiny itself, but has the warning come too late? A sequel to Digimon 02: Waking the Dragons
1. Now We Can Begin

**Now We Can Begin**

 **888**

"No, you don't understand!" Centaurumon heard the voice of his companion say from further ahead in the cave. "She came to me!"

"This is the fifth time we've checked the fire wall, Master Gennai." the cybernetic centaur replied as he turned the corner and stood in the massive inner chamber of the mountain.

Flames roared across the center section of chamber. They flowed from the left to the right from two massive, caverns, and then erupted upwards from the roots of the mountain far below. The young looking man was standing there holding a small device up to the flames. A massive metallic robot was standing next to him. The long bending arms ending in long clawed hands.

"She said it was coming from outside." The man said, turning. His robes flowed as he looked up at Centaurumon with his blue eyes. His short brown hair was slowly growing into spikes. The long rat's tail of hair was swept over his shoulder.

"What is the reading?" Centarumon asked.

"Nominal, just like the other four times." Gennai grumbled, pocketing the device. "The fire wall is working perfectly. The barrier between the worlds is at optimal effectiveness."

"Is it is possible that the message was wrong?" Centarumon asked.

"Wrong?" Gennai looked to Centarumon as if the centaur had vomited on himself. Gennai blinked. "Shakamon!?" WRONG!? She's a pantemporal, omnipresent, nigh omniscient, all but omnipotent being! She's the Right Hand of God! When there's an argument between reality and Shakamon's opinion, reality takes a step to one side and says, 'carry on, m'lady.'."

"It's just, you keep saying there should be a breach, and yet we cannot find one." Centarumon said, narrowing his one eye. "The world has never been as stable as it is right now. There are no mass events of destruction or evil, peace has fallen across the Digital World, even the Human World is seeing a record time of peace in our time. Is it possible that what you saw was not what you thought it was?"

"No there's something we're missing." Gennai growled, turning and leaping up on the metal robot. A hatch hissed open and the man slid in. "The world is cracked and darkness is coming. I know it."

"Then should we not contact the Chosen Ones?" Centarumon asked.

"Not yet, no, there's nothing for them to do but fret, and the last thing we need is for them to fret." Gennai said quickly, waving a hand in the air.

"I think you should listen to your wayward compatriot, sprite." a voice called from behind Centarumon.

The centaur reared back twisting to see a be-robed demon with gryphon-like legs, or rather a left gryphon-like leg, and a right leg that was a metallic peg. Likewise, it's right arm was metallic with a tweezing hook-like appendage. It's left wing was simply a metal fan.

Centarumon lifted his augmented arm the hand twisting and folding into an energy cannon. The demon snorted in derision, lifting his hand slicing it to his left. Centarumon felt his body lift and fly, smashing into the wall of the cavern.

"Oh, yes, you-" Gennai said from inside the MechiNorimon. His head popped up and looked at the demon. "I'd nearly forgot you were a thing." He tilted his head to the left as he looked at the demon. "You've done yourself up a bit. Can't say that I approve of the design-"

"This, was my sacrifice, for surviving the battle!" the demon growled.

"It was an explosive one." Gennai conceded, as he pulled himself out of the MechiNorimon. "So that's where you've been, off licking your wounds, then." Gennai leapt to the ground.

"Who is this, digimon?" Centarumon asked as he struggled to stand.

"Oh, the one that caused all that business with the Great Dragons and Daemon." Gennai said, not breaking eye contact with the demon and folding his hands behind his back. "No one important."

"You will rue those words, sprite!" the demon growled, lifting his organic hand and pointing a clawed finger at Gennai.

"My dear lad, you are a few tiers below the gods I've had to tussle with over the last year or so." Gennai said, flashing a bemused smile at the demon. "So, if you would please, go. Despite what you may believe, I have an incredibly full schedule at the moment."

"Reality is cracked, and the darkness is coming." the demon said.

Gennai's bemused smile disappeared.

"What could you know of that?" Centarumon asked looking to the demon and then to Gennai.

"Everything, do you really think her holiness is the lone power in the universe?" the demon smirked.

"Then you know what's coming, who is coming!" Gennai growled, taking a step forward.

"Why ever do you think I am here, Gennai?" The demon said.

Gennai closed his eyes and shook his head slowly in disappointment. "You can't possibly think that this is a good idea!"

"The worlds are damaged; he is the only one capable of bringing together what has been torn asunder!" the demon said.

"He brings nothing but madness and death, and you can't possibly stand on his side!" Gennai snarled. Centarumon stood up slowly, he saw with his eye, that Gennai catch the movement in the corner of his eyes. The man's nearest hand extended two fingers.

"My kind of world." the demon smiled. One of Gennai's fingers folded back.

"A world of madness, chaos, sickness, disease. A world of death gone mad." Gennai growled. "Is that really the world that you want to usher in, Murmuxmon? Could you really support that kind of monster?"

"And I will stand at it's right hand!" the demon said, lifting its arms up.

"Now, Centarumon!" Gennai shouted clenching his nearest hand into a fist.

"SOLAR RAY!" Centarumon lifted his arm. The energy cannon twisted into place and a blaze of light fired forward.

Murmuxmon leaned back as the blast flew past, erupting into the torrents of flames crossing in the middle of the chamber. The demon pivoted on its peg leg and lunged forward. Centarumon felt the burn of the fires and then soon after that nothing at all.

888

'Twiddle, Twiddle, Twiddle…' the electronic noise chimed quietly but insistently. Taichi grunted slowly opening one dark brown eye, staring at the blinking light of the D3 on his night table.

He reached out and clumsily grasped the device and looked at it. He could hear the rest of the house. His mother semi-quietly clattering in the kitchen. The sound of his father in the bathroom shaving. He could hear Hikari on her phone talking to one of her friends. He could smell breakfast as it wafted into his room. He sat up. He turned and looked out the window. The New Hikari Ga Oka shimmered in the sun. A little more than a year had passed. There were still some scars in the skyline, scaffolds, and a few empty lots and gaps. He took a deep breath.

His bare feet touched the smooth wooden floor. He stood up and quickly wriggled out of the T-shirt and shorts he wore, and slipped into his school uniform. He looked at himself via a small vanity mirror he had. It had a flower clipped to the edge. His eyes narrowed.

There was a knock on the door.

"Taichi-" his mother's voice called. "Breakfast is ready."

"Thanks, mom." Taichi said, as he finished slipping into a shirt. He quickly scrambled into a pair of sports shorts.

He grabbed a duffle bag and a book bag, hooking the D3 onto the band of the duffle bag. He opened the door and entered into the apartment that his family now lived in. They'd finished it only a couple of months ago. It was ever so slightly bigger than the one that had been destroyed in the war a year ago.

"Eggs, dear?" Taichi's mother asked.

"Just toast, I have to get going, early practice." Taichi said almost apologetically.

"But I sautéed mushrooms to go with the-" his mother started.

"Just toast, please." Taichi said with a patient smile.

"Hey slugger!" Taichi heard his father call out seconds before the arm of his father crooked around his neck gently and he felt the older man's knuckles gently rustle his hair. "Big game today!"

"Yeah, that's what they say." Taichi said frowning and wincing as his father released him and looked admiringly to the small plate of scrambled eggs and mushrooms that were being placed on a plate. "I guess there's even some American scouts coming from some colleges in the states."

"Ah, well, don't get psyched out." Taichi's father said as he sat down at the dinner table and started to tuck in. "You should eat some eggs. Fuel up!"

"Nah, I've got early practice, you know how coach is." Taichi said as he turned and reached out with his tawny arm and snatched a pair of toast slices from a plate, sticking one into his mouth as he half saluted with the other one. Taichi turned and started towards the door of the apartment.

"We'll be rooting for you." Taichi's mother said. "I'm sorry…you realize that right?"

"Yeah, no, Hikari's got that whole photo-gallery-thing." Taichi said, stopping and looking to his mother. "It wouldn't be right to make her miss it. I mean after all that-" He winced slightly. "I mean Ms. Tachikawa, pulled all those strings."

"We must send a thank you to Fumiko-san, don't let me forget that." Taichi's mother said. "She's really taken Kari under her wing."

"Yeah…" Taichi said turning to head out.

"I'll try and get off early, slugger." Taichi's father said. "It's such a shame this whole account business had to happen right now, but I'll do my best. I just wish I could-"

"It's fine, dad, really, it's good. No worries." Taichi said, turning, opening the door and walking out into the hallway.

He closed the door behind him. He trotted down the hallway and down the stairs and to the little promenade that had the mail boxes and out the glass doors onto the street. He blinked as sunlight blared between the buildings as it crested the buildings to the east. The wind swept a chill through the autumnal morning and the steam coming from Taichi's toast shifted slightly as he turned and walked towards a rack of bicycles. He found his, put his duffle bag down and fidgeted in his pocket snagging a key and freed the bike from the rack. He quickly ate the rest of his toast, and then adjusted the duffle across his back, and mounted the bicycle, pushing off and riding towards school.

Practice came and went and Taichi continued to his classes after a shower and change of clothes. He fumbled tying his tie as he pushed out of the locker room, his duffle bag slung across his shoulder and bumped almost immediately into a young man. The young man could only have been seven years older than him, if that.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Taichi yelped bowing deeply as he tried to back away from the young man.

"Ah, no, it's quite ok." The young man said, he had brown hair and was wearing a informal suit and wore a tie. He was carrying scrolls and a few paint boxes. "I'm afraid I'm a bit lost, actually, first year here." The man then quite clumsily tried to free a hand and extend it to Taichi. "Nishijima…I'm teaching calligraphy."

"Oh," Taichi said reaching forward and shaking the man's hand. "Taichi Yaga-"

"Yes, Mr. Yagami! Of course, makes sense…" Nishijima said smirking slightly. "I recognize you from that broadcast at Christmas. Very well done, by the by, yes, extremely well done. I believe you're in my class this year. I remember seeing the name, I think."

"Yeah…umm, thank you." Taichi said, almost reflexively pulling away. He swallowed hard as he tried to push aside the rush of memories from the previous six months.

"So you play soccer then?" Nishijima asked as he looked down to the dufflebag that was half open revealing the ball.

"Yes, sir." Taichi nodded.

"I seem to remember there being a game this afternoon after school." Nishijima said.

"Yes, there is, sir." Taichi nodded.

"Then I'll have to attend I suspect. " Nishijima said nodding. "Well, I best get going, lots to do, lots to do indeed."

Taichi nodded fervently as the young man sidled around him and then continued down the hall. Taichi scratch the back of his head and then turned and continued to his locker. As he approached his homeroom, he saw Yamato and Sora. He waved to them.

"How was practice?" Sora asked, as she waved back to Taichi.

"Oh, ok, got some new guys in this year who still need some work." Taichi said. "But I think we're ok for the game this afternoon. You guys are going to be there right?"

"Tai, I told you that I wasn't going to be able to go, me and the band have this gig up at the TV station." Yamato said shaking his head. "Debuting the new name, for the band…remember…"

"Yeah, Life of Pie wasn't it?" Taichi asked, furrowing his brow.

"No, Knife of Day!" Yamato admonished loudly, as Sora giggled quietly, her hand covering her mouth.

"I never understood why you changed it anyways…" Taichi grumbled as he reached for the door. "I always liked the Teenage Wolves-"

"We're not going to be teenagers forever, Tai!" Yamato growled.

"You aren't an old man yet." Taichi retorted. He looked up at Sora. "So, then are you-"

Sora stopped giggling and looked down. "Sorry, Tai, but I - I promised that I'd go to the studio with Yamato…I forgot that the game was today."

"Oh, well, that's fine." Taichi said as he opened the door to the home room.

"Isn't Hikari and your family coming?" Yamato asked as they entered the classroom.

"No, she's got this tour over at Fumiko Tachikawa's photo-gallery…so mom has to take her and dad's got work-" Taichi said as he went over to a cubby and stored his bag. "Koushiro has some kind of meeting with those UN people, Jyou is Jyou…and well…"

"Yeah, I heard." Sora said. "I'm sorry, Tai."

"About what? It's maybe for the best." Taichi said as he found his place and sat down. "Since she's come back…I can't deny things have been different and she's still Mimi, at the end of the day. It's not like I hate her or anything and I completely understand. Since the whole dragon thing and Daemon….and everything else, I just am somewhere else at the moment and so is she and we just need….time, apart."

The bell tolled and a young teacher rushed into the classroom. He fumbled around and dropped a pile of materials on the desk in front of him.

"Good morning, I'm your homeroom teacher Daigo Nishijima, amazingly lucky I found this room." The man said in a exasperated tone. "Such a large school." The man locked eyes with Taichi and laughed almost to himself. "Ah, Mr. Yagami, completely forgot to ask you for directions when I bumped into you this morning. How very absent-minded of me!" The entire class turned to Taichi and Tai felt his face burst into a burning crimson. The young teacher snapped his fingers quickly. "Right, right, then I suppose we get on with our business, roll call, yes, I guess I can check off Mr. Yagami, so let's go on, Asagi Atakawa?"

888

"Did you really think that would work?" Murmuxmon asked, as he glared at the digital sprite.

"Oh, it was a success on many levels, just not any that you were bothering to keep track of." the sprite said, as he patted down his robes. "You're more agile than I had expected, considering your condition. Your tendency towards violence is as high as I expected."

"So you made a sacrifice to gain tactical intelligence?" Murmuxmon snorted slightly, he then narrowed his eyes. "But then, that's what you do, isn't it?"

"Tactical sacrifices are necessary from time to time." the sprite said nodding. "You know that."

"But what good will it do you?" Murmuxmon asked. "You are in an even more precarious position now than you were before."

"I rather doubt that." the sprite replied. "If you had wanted me dead, I'd be dead. So that means you want me alive."

"Not me specifically." Murmuxmon said. "I was sent to fetch you."

"Ah, yes, it won't do you any good." the sprite replied, folding his hands behind his back. "I won't give up anything."

"I think you'll find me quite persuasive." Murmuxmon said as he took a step forward. "My master is very knowledgeable of you, and your kind."

"So were the dragons." the sprite said quietly. "I resisted them as well."

"Yes, but the dragons never knew your truth." Murmuxmon's lips curled into a nefarious smile. "Oh the stories my master does tell of you. Gennai, last of the great Order of Shakamon." The sprite didn't move as Murmuxmon walked around him. The flames of the firewall surged in the background. "I was most surprised to hear the truth when it was told to me. I mean I thought I had known some unpleasant people but then to hear what you had done."

"I have been a stalwart protector of this world." Gennai said clutching the lapels of his robes, not looking Murmuxmon in the eyes. "I have nothing to be ashamed of."

"Is that so? You're the last of your kind." Murmuxmon said, turning his back to Gennai. "All of them slaughtered, by Piedmon, yes? Only you survived to save the digivices, crests and tags, as well as those famed digi-eggs. Valiant sprite, engaging in one great last ditch effort to save the Digital World." Murmuxmon slowly looked back at Gennai. "At least, that's part of the story."

"It's the relevant part of the story." Gennai said sharply.

"Oh, I rather doubt it is, Gennai." Murmuxmon said. "The Order of Shakamon sequestered, hidden, biding their time after the Dark Masters had started overrunning the Digital World. Your order was looking for some way of stopping them. Each alternative becoming bleaker than the last."

"The Dark Masters would have destroyed the Digital World, the darkness of Apocalymon would have threatened all planes of existence." Gennai said sharply.

"And the Order came to a solution." Murmuxmon said. "Well, two solutions. One, was to re-establish connection with the Human World, attempt to restart destiny even though the Harmonious Ones had been sealed, but that required time, energy, motivation. The other, however-"

"Was not a solution." Gennai growled, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Wasn't it?" Murmuxmon asked. "From what I've heard it was the idea that the rest of the Order preferred. Simple, easy, fool-proof."

"It was reckless, gutless, and horrific." Gennai clenched his fists. "It should never have been even considered!"

"That was your opinion." Murmuxmon said quietly. "Your elders, your fellow Order members, disagreed, were planning on executing the final commands, but you, you couldn't allow it."

"Of course not!" Gennai growled. "It would've been mass murder!"

"Ironic-" Murmuxmon smirked. "Because you-"

"I did what I had to do, to protect this world and the Human World." Gennai said.

"I was always curious as to how the Dark Masters found the Order's secret hideout. It was exceptionally well warded and hidden." Murmuxmon said, his cobalt eyes eying Gennai. "I must say, I have to applaud you. Who would have thought such a sanctimonious, old monk such as yourself had the stomach for such a deep layer of treachery?"

"My loyalty is to this existence, this world, and the digimon that live on it." Gennai said, narrowing his eyes. "It extends no further, no deeper than that." He straightened up. "It's ancient history anyways, no one cares-"

"Oh, you don't think they-" Murmuxmon pointed up, "care. Those poor little children that look up to you ever so much? Oh, if only they knew that their little magic digital buddy was the traitor that got his own kind slaughtered…every last one."

"Had they accomplished their goals, this world, you, everything would have been eliminated." Gennai said. "The Human World would've been sent caterwauling into the Stone Age. I did the only sane thing to do! I was the only one that day that was listening to reason!"

"And for that you paid a price." Murmuxmon said. He lunged forward, and though Gennai tried he could not escape Murmuxmon's grasp. Murmuxmon yanked the back of Gennai's robe, exposing a scar on the nape of his neck. "Oh, you were clever though, rerouting the viral programming into your physical matrix, you burned out seventy percent of your run time neutralizing the program as it turned you into a comically curmudgeonly old man." Murmuxmon's claw ran over the scar. "A tiny seed, a little cocklebur of evil, even Azulongmon couldn't excise it from you. It's still in there-"

"Deactivated, impotent, irrelevant!" Gennai grunted as he tried to free himself from Murmuxmon's grasp.

"Now, you see, the things I have heard, the whispers in the night-" Murmuxmon whispered into Gennai's ear, "they sing a different tune. That's why I have been sent to retrieve you. It's time for your true self to shine!"

Gennai struggled, trying to pull from Murmuxmon's grip. He felt the incise of the hook into his shoulder, between his clavicle and the blade of his scapula. He bit his lip as he felt the hook shift as he struggled.

"You can't do it-" Gennai grunted as Murmuxmon pulled him close.

"I know the words, I have been given the power to revive the seed." Murmuxmon said.

"If you do this, don't think you'll survive." Gennai growled. His blue eyes sliced over to Murmuxmon.

"I will stand at his right hand." Murmuxmon smirked. "You were the key to the destiny, you are the crack in reality. The beach head that will allow my new master to rise!"

"It will destroy everything, it has no compassion, no loyalty, no sense of honor!" Gennai growled, trying to get through to Murmuxmon.

"Then how fitting it is, that you are to be its vessel, Gennai." Murmuxmon said, a wicked smile smeared across his face.

Gennai felt the claws of Murmuxmon's flesh hand press against the base of his neck. He heard the ancient words, the cryptic lines of arcane code that fashioned not just the Digital World but the whole of everything. The ancient breath of the primordial chaos, the infinite nothing that everything was birthed from. He screamed and shrugged and writhed, attempting in the worst case to tear his own clavicle free of his shoulder if it would free him from the hook that gripped his very skeleton.

"SHAKAMON STOP HIM!" shrieked Gennai as he heard the last of it, the final command protocols, the call to execute the program.

It burned from the base of his neck. It branched outwards. Rivers of it coursing through his body. Gennai tried to alter himself, like before, force it into the unmeasured lifetime he had been afforded, but found himself frozen, locked in place. His vision blurred as dark fingers enclosed around him. His body twisted outside of his own command. He felt it choking him grasping his throat as it took control of his voice. His mind was clouded, surrounded on all sides by darkness.

"Now, we can begin-" Gennai heard his voice say.

 **888**

 **AN: This is the official beginning, of the after of Waking the Dragons. It may seem slightly familiar to some of you, and may seem even more familiar as we proceed but for different reasons. I'm hoping this isn't like Waking the Dragons in that it takes nearly a decade to see completion but I make no promises. Timing on this will be erratic until I get a better hold on things, but I wanted to get this published so as to give some of you who have been patiently waiting to have something. Also those of you new, this is a sequel of sorts to Digimon 02: Waking the Dragons, which can be found via perusing my profile or by searching for it using the search function.**


	2. Benum'd And Wish to Be No More

**Benum'd And Wish to Be No More**

 **888**

Taichi pushed out of the classroom. The bell was still tolling, Mr. Fujiwata was trying and failing to get the first day's assignment assigned before the tumult of teenagers flooded out of the classroom. Taichi ran to his homeroom and quickly rushed to his cubby where he found his duffle and claimed it. He turned and started to walk from the homeroom.

"Ah, Mr. Yagami!" Taichi froze and grimaced. Sitting at the desk was Mr. Nishijima.

Taichi turned and bowed quickly. "Good afternoon Mr. Nishijima, I hope you had a nice first day, I would like to stay and talk -"

"Not to worry, not to worry." Mr. Nishijima leapt to his feet and grabbed a file from his desk and walked towards Taichi. "We'll walk together."

"I, it's just, I have to get going coach doesn't like it when I'm-" Taichi fumbled.

"Oh, don't worry I'll take the blame." Mr. Nishijima said as he opened the door and walked out of the room. The calligraphy teacher walked steadily aside of Taichi his arm crooked where he was holding his file. "You see, Taichi, I may call you Taichi?"

"I err, I guess…Mr. Nishiji-"

"Daigo, when we aren't in class." Mr. Nishijima said. "You remind me a heck of a lot of myself when I was well, your age. You still wear the goggles right?"

"Not so much anymore." Taichi said slightly uncomfortable. "How did you know I-?"

"Oh just a guess." Mr. Nishijima said waving his free hand. "You seem the type. I see you hang out with Mr. Ishida and Ms. Takenouchi. You're close aren't you?"

Tai blushed brightly. "I- they are my friends of course we're, I guess…"

"You know Mr. Izumi? Correct?" Mr. Nishijima. "I have him in one of my lower level classes. As well as Ms. Tachikawa."

"Yes, we're all friends." Taichi furrowed his brows. "I really don't see what that has to do with anything…"

"This last, what has it been, two years since the last digital world event started…" Mr. Nishijima continued, ignoring Taichi. "It must be incredibly exciting."

"Mr. Nishijima, I'm sorry but I feel this conversation is very uncomfortable." Taichi said, stopping and letting Mr. Nishijima proceed a few steps. He clenched his fists lightly. "I don't know what you are asking, or why you are talking to me, or taking an interest in me. If it is about the Digital World, all I can say is that I have many good friends, people and digimon I would trust with my life, and I would only have met them via the affects that the Digital World has had on this world." Taichi looked up to see Mr. Nishijima looking at him in confusion. Taichi gulped slightly and realized that his face was moist. He reached up and felt a tear. He closed his eyes, and wished he hadn't. He shook his head to get the images and the sounds out of his mind. "I was chosen, I had no choice in the matter, I don't regret the results of being a child chosen to destiny, the friends I made, the ultimate saving of the world, but if you think that what me or my friends did, was in any way out of some kind of sense of fun, or excitement…I can only tell you that you are wrong. It was hard, and dangerous and I-we all saw things we should have never had to have seen, I lost people, friends, that I should never have lost." Taichi could feel the red in his face, not red of embarrassment but red of anger. Taichi grabbed the tail of that anger and wrestled it back and pushed it down, he took a deep breath and swallowed. "Now, Mr. Nishijima, I have a game to go to…and I would very much appreciate to be left to go to the game on my own."

"Of course, Mr. Yagami." Mr. Nishijima said, a stunned look still on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn-"

Taichi didn't even let him finish as he pushed by. He winced as he his memories flew immediately to the preceding year. The fire, the rage, the screams of terror and pain. He reached the corner and pushed himself around it and instantly leaned back against the cold wall, taking deep breaths. Only a year ago, in this very building he was huddled with the others, listening to the bombardment of Odaiba. Only a year ago, he and Hikari had sat on the streets outside their destroyed apartment building, wondering if their parents had died in the hell that had been unleashed from the other world. Taichi slid down the wall and hugged his knees. He didn't talk about it, not with anyone, not even with the other Chosen Children. Those memories however, would wake him from his sleep. They'd intrude in the middle of a normal day, at the movies, playing video games, and slowly they had been getting more intrusive more easily leaping out of the shadows to scream at him. He was the bedrock, he was the core, the strength of the entire team. He couldn't afford to show weakness, not even now, not even in peace. Taichi took a final, deep breath and pushed himself up onto his feet and then ran to the school exit.

888

Murmuxmon looked over to the sprite, formerly named Gennai, as they walked the forest path towards the lake. The sprite led in silence. His dark eyes flitting from tree to tree following the butterflies and the leaves. The wind blew cold around him ruffling his robes and jostling his hair. Finally they came to the edge of the lakeshore, the water gently stroking the sandy edge. The sprite knelt down and touched the water and the ripples flourished outwards. He stood up and looked at his still wet hand.

"Quite amazing, the last time I was here, none of this was here." The man said, slightly turning his head back to Murmuxmon.

"It must have been ages since you were last here, this forest has always been here, since the Dark Masters, before that even…." Murmuxmon said in shock. "It's ancient, this lake-"

"Not the forest, not the lake." The man said looking down at the water. "This world…when I was last here this was all nothing…." The man outstretched his hand and snapped his fingers. The lake split, not so much as if it was commanded, but cowed. The man turned his head to Murmuxmon. "It is ever so much noisier now." The man turned and started down the staircase that was revealed by the retreating lake. "That will have to be fixed I suspect."

"Fixed?" Murmuxmon said in surprise as he clanked down the steps.

"Mm, many things will need fixing." the man said as he continued down the stairs. "This world like so many have become quite noisome. Each independently splintering off into their own destinies, into their own causalities, so much noise, so much tumult, so much disorder. Each one struggling to continue in their unabated bleats of survival." He came to a stop at the house that sat at the bottom of the lake. "I expect you already started the work then?"

"All that I could without your assistance…master?" Murmuxmon said, joining the man. "By the by, you never told me who you were…"

"I was under the impression that you understood fully when I talked to you in your sleep?" the man said furrowing a brow. "When I whispered into the dark recesses of your mind, you seemed most eager, I assumed you understood who I am."

"No, I mean, what do I call you?" Murmuxmon replied, swallowing slightly. "Do you have a name?"

"A name?" The man smirked and turned opening the house's door. "A most ephemeral concept…"

"But none the less important!" Murmuxmon tried, following tentatively behind the man.

The man ignored the call. He walked across the room, to a closet, opening the door and then to the back of the closet and opening another door. Murmuxmon followed quickly. The man continued down some stairs into a basement. The man swept past the shrine of weapons and articles of destruction to a massive mainframe. He sat and swept his fingers across the panels and the terminal came to life.

"I thought you said you had started the work-" the man said, narrowing his eyes.

"I-I did what I could but…but…" Murmuxmon started. "What you're looking for has been destroyed." Murmuxmon gulped as the man glared at him. "It was the digi-destined, they and Beelzemon they destroyed Megidramon, he can't even be reborn, he's simply dead!"

"Then we will get what I need, from the other source-" the man said tersely. "Where is it?"

"Well, here's the thing about that-" Murmuxmon started, taking a slow step backwards. "My previous employer…kinda…might've…well…you know how it is, unintended consequences and all that…Daemon may have eaten him, a little bit. And then the digi-destined destroyed Daemon…again, without hopes of rebirth-"

"I see-" the man said, as he sat at the terminal.

"Is there no other source then?" Murmuxmon asked more afraid than hopeful.

The man didn't respond he simply looked around him. "They were involved. Shakamon and the other one, always interfering. They felt my power, felt my approach and shut down my actions. Even now, they are watching us. Waiting for us to act…and we shall." The man turned to Murmuxmon. "You mention these digi-destined. They are the spear holders of destiny in this world?"

"Yes, they come from the Human World of this reality, children-"

"Ah, yes, I have encountered them across many realities, they are a frustration." The man said smirking to himself. "But not infallible. I find them almost entertaining. However, even they succumb, in the end, as do all things."

"But Shakamon is on their side, she's-"

"Difficult, but not perfect." the man said. "We will have to use Shakamon against herself…it will take a little longer but in many ways this will be far more amusing."

"What will you do?" Murmuxmon asked cautiously moving towards the man.

"Bring silence." the man said. "Force Shakamon to do something vast and horrible and in the doing, she will give me all the tools I need to fulfill my greatest goal. But first, we eliminate these pesky champions of destiny…" The man closed his eyes. "This creature's mind speaks of a virus that nearly destroyed the children in the past." He opened his eyes. "I will use that!"

"You don't mean…" Murmuxmon started. "But that, it's dead, they killed it. It was the first step towards the triumph of Shakamon's design!"

"Viruses don't die." The man said sharply. Murmuxmon retreated. The man then swiveled in his chair and quickly flicked switches and typed. The field on the screen swept around slicing through data fields. "How can something that was never alive die?" The screen came to a halt, zoomed in and there in the middle of a vast swirling network of data there was one plump, gray blob. It was the tiniest little squidling with short, stubby proto-tentacles and a single eye that dominated its entire body. "Viruses simply go dormant, waiting, waiting for that briefest moment of mutation - like this!" The man jabbed his fingers at the terminal. Murmuxmon looked up in shock. The little squidling doubled quickly in the data field, then quadrupled. The man turned to Murmuxmon. "It has its instructions, and soon it will destroy Shakamon's destiny."

"But it can't win, not like that!" Murmuxmon gasped. "Even if there were a-"

"I find your lack of faith in me, disheartening, Murmuxmon." the man said, a glare flicked towards the demon. "In fact I find you to be a noisy little creature."

"Please, I didn't mean to insult you!" Murmuxmon yelped holding up his two limbs, one with a clawed hand another with a hook. "I just-I want to see you succeed!"

"My success is not in question, Murmuxmon, I've been at this in many realities across many universes. I may be slowed down, I may be diverted, I may be many things, but unsuccessful is not one of them." The man stood up, walking towards the retreating Murmuxmon. He caught up to the retreating demon and gently placed his hand on Murmuxmon's stomach. "I am an inevitable fact of all things that exist." Murmuxmon gulped and looked down into the bottomless black pits of the man's eyes. "Even you-"

Murmuxmon felt it, a very simple feeling. His head got quite giddy. He smirked and guffawed as he staggered backward. He fell against a group of stands knocking some ancient horrible weapons to the ground as he struggled quite vainly to stay standing.

"If you can do this why waste time-" Murmuxmon said gasping slightly as he felt his very physical matrix degrade.

"An individual is easy, a world, a universe, a reality, however, that requires much more power than can be channeled through this meager beach head." The man said, turning away from Murmuxmon. "This world must be opened to receive my gift, the only way to open it is via the hazard's blow, but when opened, all this fleeting reality will once again, be one with me, in perfect, silent nirvana."

"I-I was going to stand at your - right - hand…" Murmuxmon gasped, wincing as he felt his prosthetics simply melt away. His real leg and arm slowly started dissolving as well. A sense of terror overwhelmed the giddiness of before. "Please, mercy…."

"Dear, little, noisy thing, you never did understand any of it, did you?" The man said kneeling down to the slowly melting Murmuxmon. "You will always be at my right hand, you will be part of me, an inseparable part of the primordial nothing from whence you and everything else once was. This is a mercy, take solace; you are going to nirvana, the first in this reality, but worry not for you won't long be alone."

There was a creeping seeping to it, the general loss of all form. Terrifying to simply see one's torso simply fail to hold together. Cohesiveness losing its interminable war with the forces of nature. Murmuxmon took a pointless gasp as the last of him simply melted into the nothing and despite Murmuxmon's fear, there was a feeling that surprised him, a deep sense of relief, of joy, of relaxation, of oneness with something far greater than he could imagine.

888

"Mr. Kido," the semi-gruff voice of the teacher at the head of the cram class called as the others stood to leave.

Jyou stopped, feeling the icy hand of death gently but powerfully grip his arm. He slowly gathered his books and walked slowly to the desk.

"Ye-yes, Mr. Wada?" Jyou asked, more nervous now he was in proximity of the older man than when the man had called out his name.

"Mr. Kido, I have been overseeing your work since this summer's session, and of course the recent assessment we just completed." Mr. Wada continued in a mild, droning tone that didn't quite elucidate a sense of direction this comment was going towards. "I accepted your inclusion into this class, because I knew your father in college, and because I had heard amazing things from my colleagues…"

"Thank you, Mr-"

"I'm not finished, Mr. Kido." Mr. Wada said, his gray eyes glancing over his spectacles.

"I'm sorry-"

"I called you up here, after class to say, that I am not particularly impressed with the work I'm seeing here." Mr. Wada continued, ignoring Jyou as he looked down at the pile of graded work in front of him. "C's and low B's simply will not cut it, if you really wish to continue forward towards a pre-medical and medical school career. I was told you were an exemplary student, very reliable in your conduct, and work. I have found, instead that your work is very hastily done, and often times not finished. I have gone further back into your records and found the claimed exemplary work, but it seems after last year that something has changed. May I inquire as to the nature of this change?"

"You were here for that, right?" Jyou asked swallowing as he instantly regretted the unveiled sarcasm.

"That crisis is over, the schools are rebuilt, power returned to the city, and nary a threat to be seen on the horizon, Mr. Kido." The older man adjusted his glasses. "It is early in the semester, this can be turned around." Mr. Wada took out a pen and started grading papers. "I expect to see you turn in better papers. Now, go along…"

Jyou gulped and turned and solemnly walked out of the class room. He leaned against the door. His teeth gritted. He had worked exceptionally hard. He spent every waking hour and many hours that he should've been sleeping working on homework. He had no outside life, even his new girlfriend he'd met at a short summer internship he'd worked at between cram classes over the summer, was increasingly distant. He clenched his fist and slammed it against the wall. How can he concentrate when the memories kept flooding him, when the fear of it all happening again terrified him, when Gomamon constantly sends him messages asking to see him?

Jyou took a deep breath. He had to get his grades up, he had to keep going forward. He lifted his D-3 and looked at it. He narrowed his eyes at the device. He lifted his arm preparing to hurl the device away when his the cell phone in his pocket vibrated.

888

Mimi was walking down the sidewalk towards home. She'd forgotten how nice Odaiba was in the fall. Her parents had moved into one of the new apartments built in the reconstruction. She carried her books with her as she looked across the park. The soccer game was today. She could hear the crowds cheering.

"Mimi!" she heard someone shout from behind her. She turned around to see Jun Motomiya running towards her. Mimi internally frowned.

"Hello, Jun," Mimi said, in a not very convincing polite tone.

"Aren't you going to the game?" Jun asked, huffing and puffing a little as she caught her breath. "Isn't Tai playing?"

"No, I'm not going to the game." Mimi said sharply. Her eyes narrowing. "And, I most certainly don't know what Tai is doing! It isn't my place, apparently, to know!"

"Oh, is, is something wrong?" Jun asked.

Mimi frowned. "I couldn't possibly say."

"I understand, Mimi, it's 'complicated'." Jun said as she put two fingers up and waggled them at 'complicated'.

"It isn't complicated, it isn't complicated at all!" Mimi said, in a sniping churlish fashion. "You either want to be with someone or you don't. Tai apparently doesn't. So that's that then!"

"Mimi-" Jun started but Mimi was already walking away, her books digging deep into her sternum as she hugged them tightly.

Mimi walked away faster as she felt the heat pulsing through her face and collect in the corners of her eyes. She breathed through her nose sharply as she closed her eyes tightly trying to will the tears from forming. She kept speed walking until the sidewalk curved and she ducked behind a set of bushes and cried, again.

"Idiot!" Mimi growled through the gasps. "He acts like he's the only one that's hurting. Like he's the only one that had to make horrible choices. All I wanted was him to talk to me…and he won't even do that!"

She sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes. She coughed as she composed herself and stood up and walked out from the bushes. She continued to walk home. She was still angry. Maybe she should get a hold of Palmon. She swallowed and smiled, that always cheered her up. And that's when her cell phone rang.

888

"Wow, look at the lighting on this one." Hikari said as she ran up to the framed photo.

Daisuke walked behind her, his hands entwined behind his head. He was still wearing his green suit jacket. They'd come over straight from school. Mrs. Yagami had driven them.

"Ah yes, I took that one just outside of Perth." An older woman said from behind the two of them. Daisuke looked back. The woman looked just like Mimi, if Mimi had graying hair and more lines on her face and wore a tightly knitted stocking hat. "I had an aboriginal guide lead me for three days out in the outback. Apparently this rock formation is such that precisely dawn on the summer solstice the sun rises straight between these two rocks. The entire valley was flooded with this most extravagant hue of orange as it glanced off of the sandstones."

"Wow!" Hikari said as she wrote in a little notepad she took out of her bag.

Daisuke scanned the room. Most of the photos were of stones, and people and trees and flowers. One caught his eyes though a massive fish that simply dwarfed the human swimming in diving gear next to it.

"That one there!" Daisuke said as he hopped towards the picture. "So cool!"

"Ah, yes, have to admit this one was never published." the older woman said smiling coyly. "Bit of a private collection, got it on vacation off of the Yucatan, a whale shark on migration. Beautiful creatures, and incredibly harmless, well harmless to us anyways."

"How did you get the colors to come out on this one." Hikari said pointing to a photo of an orchid.

Daisuke continued to browse the photos as Hikari and the older woman chatted about light composition and apertures and focal lensing. In truth, Daisuke had little interest in any of this photography stuff, but Hikari was absolutely enamored with it. He wanted to go see Taichi's soccer game, but Hikari had been so worried about coming here alone, and Miyako had to work at her parents' new store and Takeru had a date, again. Daisuke stopped and looked at a photo of a tiger half concealed in tall grass, staring out of the picture as if it were about ready to pounce through the glass of the frame and tackle him there in the gallery. He may not know much about photography but he had to admit many of the photos were awesome. He turned to see Hikari alone looking at a series of photos and taking notes. He walked back over to her.

"Enjoying yourself?" Daisuke asked.

"Oh, immensely, Ms. Tachikawa is amazing, I mean she has a whole life's worth of experience to learn from." Hikari said almost beaming. She then caught herself. "Are you sure you're ok, you know, sitting here with me."

"Oh, yes, of course!" Daisuke said shocked at the question. "You really think I'd be annoyed about spending an afternoon with you?"

Hikari blushed and shook her head. "I wonder how Taichi is doing?"

"I'm sure it's going fine." Daisuke said. "I mean, it's Taichi's team."

"Ken's been busy too, I've heard." Hikari said, as she returned her attention to the series of pictures.

"Yeah, I guess, him and Iori have been hanging out a lot now that Iori's moved over to Tamachi." Daisuke said. "I haven't talked to either of them much since, well, all that business. I suppose we've all been too busy."

"We should all get together, some time." Hikari said as she clapped shut her notepad. "I mean it's a bit past Odaiba day but, with everything we had a hard time getting anything sorted. We could try and get the digimon over and stuff…it'd be nice…"

"Yeah, it would, I would love to see Veemon, I mean I talk to him pretty much every day but it's not the same." Daisuke said lighting up as he smiled.

"We should get a hold of Koushiro and see if we can't set something up." Hikari said smiling.

"Hikari, Daisuke, would like some tea?" Ms. Tachikawa asked from somewhere on the other side of the gallery.

"Umm, I suppose it wouldn't be a problem." Hikari said as she looked over to Daisuke. "We wouldn't wish to impose!"

"Oh, no imposition. I have some on brew as it is." the older woman said from the back. "Come back and I can show you some stuff that I'm working on for my next magazine run…"

Hikari was about to turn to move when her phone started ringing. She stopped and took it from her pocket. The number on the screen was weird.

"Who is it?" asked Daisuke.

"I don't know." Hikari said.

888

Sora sat in the bleachers. The rest of the audience were filing in. Yamato and the rest of his band were setting up instruments. Production assistants and TV people were rushing about. She looked out the window, the set was in a corner with a large window to the outside. In the plaza a little boy was bouncing a soccer ball on his knee. Sora sighed loudly. People kept filing in, soon she was in a sea of cheering swaying teenage girls most of them a little younger than she was.

She didn't need to be here. Yamato won't even notice if she was gone. She felt some weight next to her and looked up to see Takeru sitting down next to her. He was wearing a green t-shirt with a short-brimmed hat. He smiled to Sora.

"Hey, I thought you had a-" Sora started.

"Eh, she dipped." Takeru said waving his hand limply. "Actually she's up there somewhere…" He pointed up into the sea of female faces. "I guess she was only interested because my brother was Yamato Ishida."

"Sorry-" Sora said, looking at the blonde boy sympathetically.

Takeru shrugged his shoulders. "So, this is their big premiere as Knife of Day. Pretty impressive even got TV time."

"Yeah, I guess." Sora said as one of the adjacent girls jostled her with an elbow. She frowned.

"Not exactly your kind of crowd is it?" Takeru said as he ducked and weaved around arms and elbows.

"Not really, I've never been super comfortable with all of this-" Sora said, as she looked down to Yamato who was waving to the crowd and smiling broadly, "but he adores it completely." Sora sighed slightly as she looked back to the window, the little boy was still bouncing his soccer ball. "Still, I would love to go see Taichi play soccer, than get all bumped and bruised…"

"You can go, my brother would understand." Takeru said, smiling.

"No, this is what you do when you love someone." Sora said as she frowned as a knee from someone behind her found its home in the middle of her spine. Sora was about to spin around to yell at whoever had kicked her in the back when the entire audience and the stage erupted in varying ringtones, vibrations and dings. Even Sora's phone went off and she was fairly certain she'd shut it off.

888

"As we all know, long durations in this world have an adverse affect on electrophasic matter." Koushiro said as he clicked and images behind him shifted. "Without regular returns to a digital plane of existence digimon will mutate and eventually degrade."

"So you are telling us all that hullabaloo with the dragons was unnecessary?" one of the men out in the audience called.

"Well, no, the dragons had access to open digital portals, they could easily resupply and circulate troops in and out without much problem…" Koushiro said. "Plus the ultimate goal of the dragons' was our extinction, and destruction…territory was less their concern." Koushiro coughed gently into his hand. "But anyways my point is that with a global digi-destined, and the strong emotional connection between digi-destined and their digimon partner, the likelihood of the collapse of electrophasic matter in the Human World could be quite likely. I have derived what I think is an answer to this problem, without resorting to regular transmission to the Digital World using the digital port system."

"Is the digital portal system that fragile still?" Another man asked.

"Well, it's not so much fragility, more along the line, of the kind of modeled traffic needed greatly exceeds the system's designed function." Koushiro said as he turned and looked up. "We really shouldn't put more stress on the system than necessary." He looked around and then pulled at his collar and then turned to the screen. He clicked a button and the screen blazed a bright white. A brown bunny was standing in the middle of the white. "This is my friend Lopmon, who is a digimon partner for an American digi-destined who I am collaborating with, whose name is Wallace."

"Izzy don't forget about me!" chimed another buzzing voice. A large, red lady bug buzzed next to the bunny.

"And of course this is my partner Tentomon." Koushiro said with a smile. "And they are in the Digimon Storage Server, or DSS. An invention of my own, with some assistance from Dr. Schmidt. I have basically created in miniature a mini-Digital World. Right now digital plane you see now is fairly small and exceedingly sparse, but I believe with full funding from UNIT I can create a worldwide cloud-like server for the purposes of storing the partner digimon of the world's digi-destined. This would facilitate both easy access to partner digimon in case of some extreme emergency, and would also promote psychological and physical health in both digimon and digi-destined by reducing the risk of electrophasic degradation and regular trips of humans to the Digital World."

"What kind of access are we talking about?" A woman asked, she was blonde, and unlike the others wore a long, dark jacket over a hoody.

"Any digital device with internet access could be used to create a port between the server space and the Human world." Koushiro said as he lifted his D-3. The screen blurred and Tentomon buzzed out into the conference room, flying a loop over the heads of the accumulated delegates.

"And this server completely negates the electrophasic degradation?" a man with angry eyebrows and short gray hair wildly placed on his head asked.

"As far as I can tell." Koushiro said nodding. "We had some issues with server stability in the first trial runs, but I think I've sorted that out. Not to mention the fact that I've installed an emergency save point within the server in case of some sort of catastrophic failure. But since the server will be global, for the server to fail from the digimon's point of view every server bank would have to go down to cause such a catastrophic failure."

"And can humans go there?" another man asked, he was thin, with quaffed brown hair and was wearing a pin-striped suit.

"No, the server has a bio-filter program, only Digital World beings can access the server base directly via the method I showed." Koushiro said, as he walked around. "And the server world is only accessible by digivice. The physical interface will not function without a digivice command signal." he smiled broadly as the group of scientists conversed in hushed whispered, and then his computer dinged. He frowned as a window box showed up on the big screen in front of Lopmon's face. Koushiro's pocket vibrated as he phone rang.

"Uh, Izzy-" Tentomon said as he pointed at the screen.

"What?" Koushiro said as he turned around.

"How did you get in here!?" yelped Lopmon as a giant eyeball with stubby squid like protuberances hopped towards it, calling out Kura Kura as it tried to catch up to Lopmon.

The phone in Koushiro's hand vibrated again. Koushiro opened it, sliding the screen from the tiny keyboard. The screen lit up and before he could do anything another one of the tiny eyeballs squeezed out of the phone.

"What's going on!?" shouted one of the men in the audience.

"Not sure, nothing like this has happened before!" Koushiro said as he jumped to his computer. He looked up at the screen and saw the tiny squid latch onto Lopmon. The bunny digimon yelped loudly as if it was shocked and then pulled the little creature from its body. Lopmon opened its mouth and fired a blast of ice pellets at the little creature. The creature for all its minimal attributes only fizzled slightly before dividing into two.

"Lopmon get out of there, it's trying to eat the data in the server! Kuramon, but that can't be!" Koushiro said, loudly. He turned to another terminal. "Wallace open a port on your end I'll send Lopmon through!"

The group could see a hole on the screen. Lopmon ran towards it, leapt at it and proceeded to bounce off of it a red fizzle hissing as the little bunny ricocheted off of some invisible barrier.

"Non-digital entity?" Koushiro yelped. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Umm, Izzy…what do we do with this one?" Tentomon asked as the little squid hovered towards the lady bug.

"Zap it!" Koushiro yelped.

Tentomon obliged and a burst of electricity fizzled at the little squid. The one-eyed creature squealed loudly fizzled but much like the one in the server space, simply split in two.

"Izzy, help!" yelped Lopmon as the creatures had split another two times now there were eight of them and they were closing in on Lopmon.

"I'm trying, I don't know what's going on, the bio-filter isn't recognizing you as a digimon, it doesn't recognize you from the Digital World!" Koushiro yelped loudly. "It worked perfectly only a few minutes ago!? I don't get it!?"

Klaxons started going off. Koushiro looked up as military personnel came through the doors of the conference room.

"Brigadier Bambera!" Koushiro yelped.

The dark skinned woman looked at Koushiro and then the group of scientists in the room. "What is going on in here?"

"I don't know, I got this email and phone call and these creatures popped out of them." Koushiro said.

"So it's even happening here." Brigadier Bambera said. "Reports are that, globally, children who are digi-destined are being emailed, called, or some other way digitally contacted. These creatures are contacting them, and emerging when the children open their phones or the emails. UNIT has localized the source of the creatures though."

The brigadier walked up to one of the terminals that Koushiro was sitting at. Tentomon was still buzzing around trying to stay away from the squids. The brigadier opened a new server window. Koushiro gasped.

"The dark network?" Koushiro asked looking at the screen.

"More than that, a cache site." Bambera said. "It holds a repository of old viruses."

"No…" Koushiro whispered as he looked at a copy of an old email that had an attachment.

"Hello" was all that was written on the email.

"Is it really?" Bambera asked.

"It looks like it, but it never acted like this before!" Koushiro said. "We have to find the original one, that's the only way, and depending on how long this thing has been going on it could already be Diaboromon!"

"I'll alert the nuclear powers to disconnect all nuclear materials from the net." Bambera said sharply.

"I'll get a hold of Taichi and Yamato, we'll need Omegamon!" Koushiro started.

"I've already done that." Bambera said. "I've got people on the way, you will go and be moved to a meeting place with the other Chosen Children."

"Izzy, but what about these guys!?" Tentomon asked sharply, as the two Kuramon followed him everywhere. "I zapped the one and it just doubled."

"Maybe-" Koushiro twisted and pointed his D-3 at the computer screen. A port opened. "Zap them in there!"

"Super Shocker!" Tentomon called as a bolt of lightning struck both Kuramon and sent them flipping and spinning into the port. The screen glowed and then the light faded.

"Where did you send them?" Bambera asked.

"Secure recycle bin on my network." Koushiro said, rubbing his nose.

888

Taichi tripped as he heard the scream. His entire team was standing staring out into the crowd. The bleachers were swarming with little creatures. Taichi focused, narrowing his eyes. His hand curled into the grass.

"Kuramon-" Taichi whispered as the little creatures swirled around.

They all then suddenly turned each one of their eyes staring straight at him. He narrowed his brown eyes. The Kuramon then turn and streamed away into the city.

"TAI!" he heard a familiar if not completely unwanted shout. He turned to see Daisuke's sister running towards him. "Those were digimon!"

"Yeah I know." Taichi said as he stood up.

"Aren't you going to do something?" Jun asked.

"I'd have to go to a place to access a digi-port and get Agumon." Taichi said.

"Mr. Yagami!" Taichi winced as he heard another unwanted voice. He looked up to see Mr. Nishijima walking towards him. "I think I can help you on that front." The man took Taichi's hand. "Come with me-"

"But, Mr. Nishijima-" Taichi struggled but Mr. Nishijima's grip was surprisingly strong.

"I told you, when we aren't on school time, it's Daigo!" Mr. Nishijima said, smiling. "I have a car, I'll take you to your friends. You'll get this all sorted, in no time!"

888

The man stood looking at the screen. He watched the Human World slowly be consumed in a sea of red. A smile played slowly across his lips. He swiveled his chair and walked over to a small puddle of black water that had once been Murmuxmon. He leaned down and gently touched it. The water drew up into his fingers.

"Soon, we'll all be together again in sweet, silent oblivion." The man said as the last of the water disappeared into his hand.

 **888**

 **A/N: One hopes this didn't come off as dire as it may seem. I hope this goes down well. As for the title it is a quote from Lord Byron….Questions comments...I'll gladly take them.**


	3. The Revenge

**The Revenge….**

 **888**

"What?" Taichi stammered as Mr. Nishijima revved the engine and swerved around stopped cars as a blizzard of Kuramon swarmed through the streets.

"Sorry, didn't want to blow my cover, but it's the job you know." Mr. Nishijima said.

"So the government has been…" Taichi started.

"Since the Odaiba fog incident…" Mr. Nishijima said as he steered the car back and forth through the traffic. "Well, actually more accurately we started looking for you then, we found you when the Diablo virus attacked."

"But why?" Taichi asked shaking his head slightly in disbelief. "And why didn't you guys do anything when the others-"

"We had issues," Mr. Nishijima said, flicking a look at the rearview mirror. "The global nature of the event left us unprepared and then you disappeared. It kinda is what caused us to get more involved. Last year we were still dealing with the global influx of digi-destined, and then the dragons obliterated our infrastructure. We've been caught with our pants down twice, not a third."

"Where are you taking me?" Taichi asked, sitting back.

"To the other Chosen Children, to a secure facility." Mr. Nishijima said, as his fingers tightened around the steering wheel and he threaded between cars. "We're getting you together now, to nip this in the bud."

888

"I don't understand…" Takeru said as a Yamato pulled at his and Sora's arms. The entire studio was alive with shouts of surprise and the chirping of Kuramon that swarmed in all directions looking for egress.

"Come on, this way to the back!" Yamato shouted as he pulled them past the schools of children swatting at the swarms of little digimon.

Yamato kicked at the door that leisurely swung open as he pulled Takeru and Sora through it. The door then leisurely swung closed, clicking shut resolutely. The hallway was dark and slightly industrial looking with the lingering shadows of cameras and equipment that were waiting to be used on stage sitting to one side. They swept past shut doors and then Yamato came to a stop and pushed at one of the doors, it opened to a fairly luxurious dressing room. Sora and Takeru walked in behind Yamato. He shut the door behind them and turned. A woman was sitting at the desk in the dressing room. She was on the phone.

She was professionally dressed with a dark suit jacket and a dark skirt. Her hair was short and brown but as she turned she revealed herself to have long eye-covering bangs.

"They just got here." The woman said into the phone. "We'll be getting underway as soon as I hang up."

The woman closed the phone and pocketed it. "Ms. Takenouchi, Mr. Takaishi, nice to meet you."

"Uh, nice to meet you as well Ms…" Takeru said unsuredly extending his hand.

"Himekawa, Maki Himekawa, UNIT special agent in charge of digital asset targeting and surveillance." The woman said standing up from the desk. "Let's go then, we have to get you across town."

Takeru looked over to Sora as the woman blew past him and opened the door. Sora shrugged her shoulders. The two looked over to Yamato.

"I have no idea, she came out of nowhere when all the little digimon showed up, told me to get you two and meet here." Yamato said, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. He flicked his eyes over to Takeru . "I didn't even know TK was here!"

"There was a girl and she-"

"There always is…" Yamato said shaking his head as he clasped his younger brother's shoulder. "Come on, she's seems fairly serious."

888

"No, I tried to talk to him." the man said into his earpiece as he walked down the hall of the school. "He will not comply!"

"Then make him comply." came the voice over the ear piece. "We need them all!"

"Yes, sir." the man said as he looked up. The teenager was still stomping towards the door. The man sprinted forward. "Mr. Kido!"

The young man grumbled turning and walking backwards, glaring at the man. "I told you, I want nothing to do with this stuff!" the boy waved his hand at the Kuramon flitting about the hallway. "It's gotten me into enough trouble today as it is!"

"I don't think you understand-" the man started.

The boy stopped, adjusted his spectacles and glared at the man. "I understand perfectly. The Digital World is going spare, again, and you are part of some organization that's supposed to make sure we do our 'jobs' or something to that tune. I'm sure there's some fancy name based upon Greek mythology or some kind of acronym pun on data, or computers or something….or maybe it's just a dumb acronym period. I've been part of saving the world three times in the last five years…I think maybe it's someone else's turn now! I'm not going, that's the end of this discussion, now leave me be!"

The boy turned and walked forward, but not before tripping over a garbage bin. The boy yelped swore a little and staggered regaining his footing before hitting the door to the school and leaving. The man frowned and then pushed forward exiting the school. The world outside was growing insane. The little Kuramon were swarming in the air and in the streets. Millions of them were giggling and chirping as they twisted through the skies. The teenager was down on the sidewalk, unlocking his bike from the bike stand. The man walked down the stairs.

"I'll give you points for persistence." The teen said in an aggravated tone. He looked up at the man. "It is one of my things after all…but leave me-"

The man reached to his hip and pulled up the stun gun. The man looked down to the teen. "I'm sorry, but it's orders-"

The wires flew forward. The teen yelped in pain before dropping in a short spasm of muscle movements. The man grumbled as he pulled the pins loose and reeled in the wires. He reached up to his ear.

"The kid's acquired." the man said as he knelt down, grunting and lifting Jyou Kido into a fireman's carry.

888

Daisuke swung the broom forward smacking the little digimon in its all consuming eye. The creature screamed and skittered off somewhere into the gallery.

"What was that thing!?" yelped Ms. Tachikawa.

"Kuramon, I think." Hikari said as she looked over to Daisuke.

"That thing that you guys fought in the internet?" Daisuke asked breathing heavily.

"Not me, Yamato and my brother…" Hikari said as she took a few cautious steps towards the doorway. She peered out into the room. The Kuramon wasn't visible, either hiding or had escaped outside. She turned. "I think that's just the In-training form…"

There was a squawk. The two kids looked up to see Ms. Tachikawa adjusting a radio antenna.

- _Reports are coming in across all prefectures of tiny creatures emerging from network connected devices. Authorities are telling all citizens to shut off their network connected devices and not to approach the creatures. As of now the small creatures appear to be mostly harmless but they are growing in number exponentially and much of the city has become crippled due to gridlock caused by_ -

"Well, that does not sound good." Ms. Tachikawa said. "You kids better just hunker down I'll call your parents tell them that you're-"

A bell in the gallery rang. Ms. Tachikawa furrowed her brow as she walked to the doorway of the back office. Before she could say anything a man in a black suit walked into the office from the gallery.

He looked at the two kids. "Ms. Yagami, Mr. Motomiya?"

"I-well, yes?" Hikari stammered.

"You two are to come with me." The man said as he pulled out his wallet and exposed a very official looking badge. "Right away."

"Now these children are under my care-" Ms. Tachikawa flustered. "What business do you have-"

"These two are integral to stopping the current crisis, Ms. Fumiko Tachikawa," the man said abruptly. "I am taking them to join the other children. They will be perfectly safe with me."

"You know me?" the woman blinked at the man.

"You are the aunt of Mimi Tachikawa, we know everything about you." the man said, not half sinisterly.

"Now wait just a second." Daisuke started. "Why should we go with you? You could be any old creepy guy in a suit. I mean what if you're like Myotismon or something possessing a human? I'm not going-"

"If you do not come with me peacefully I am ordered to bring you less peacefully." The man said, sharply lifting the bottom of his jacket revealing a holster.

"Daisuke-" Hikari whispered as she looked at the gun in the holster.

"Ok, ok, fine we'll go, we'll go…" Daisuke grumbled as he held up his hands. He narrowed his eyes. "But if I don't like where we're going, you're going to wish you hadn't bothered me!"

888

"Will there be Wifi there?" Mimi asked as she looked out the window at the swarms of Kuramon.

"I assume so." The man said as she drove through the blizzard of digimon swooshing through the streets.

"They're kinda cute if you can get past the giant eyes and the squid stuff." Mimi said as the creatures rolled through the air. "It's kinda like a snow storm, like the kinds we had in New York, except you know not tiny little monsters…" The girl stopped and thought for a second. "Maybe each snowflake is that…just a tiny little monster…that's an interesting thought-"

"Yes, very poetic." the man said, as he dipped and dove between abandoned cars.

"So I'll be seeing Palmon?" Mimi returned to asking questions.

"If that's your partner's name, yes." the man said with a mild groan. He'd found her jumping around the Kuramon in the park, trying to get pictures of it to send to someone, which of course seemed to only spawn more of the little creatures. He had had to confiscate her phone, which had not gone as well as he'd expected. Since the moment they got in the car she'd prattled on at him about every little thing that seemed to bounce into her head. He'd heard two or three stories about her break up with her boyfriend. Now she seemed to just comment on whatever she saw out the window.

"Oh, hey, I know that place, Myotismon kept me and my family hostage there back in the old days!" the girl shouted as she pressed her finger against the window leaving a smudge mark. "Wow they did a good job rebuilding it, didn't they?"

"I suppose so, I'm kind of busy trying to drive-" the man grumbled, he looked up and saw other UNIT cars. "Thank god-"

"I'm sorry?" Mimi looked up.

"We're nearly there-" the man said.

888

"I know it's Kuramon, Wallace." Koushiro said over the satellite phone. "I'm trying my best, I don't know why Lopmon can't get out of the server. I'm a little busy right now…"

"Mr. Izumi." A woman in military green was standing over his shoulder.

"Look, Wallace, I'll shut down the bio-filter, get Lopmon out, as soon as you can." Koushiro said. "Just be careful."

"Mr. Izumi!" the woman growled a little more persuasively.

Koushiro pushed a button on the satellite phone and turned. "Yes, I know, Kuramon. I had to deal with that first, I felt responsible."

"I realize that but, the conditions now are worse than before, the globe is drowning in these little creatures!" the woman said, sharply. "What are you going to do?"

Koushiro turned and looked at the bank of screens. He flexed his fingers and started swinging from one terminal to the next, lines of text filling the screens. His hand swept back and forth across the desk's surface as the mouse flew, opening windows, double clicking icons, opening new windows with their own seemingly alive text lines flying across the screen. He turned and looked to the woman. She had dark skin and tight, curly hair. "All of these computers are scouring the web, looking for Diaboromon. Given the resources UNIT has, it should have the internet fully blanketed in a few minutes."

"What are these creatures doing? Is this an invasion?" the woman asked looking at the TV screens that seemed to line the room. Across the world the cities were filled with Kuramon.

"No idea, brigadier, Kuramon themselves aren't that threatening in a physical sense." Koushiro said as he looked back at the terminals. "They eat data though, very greedily, they grow and evolve very quickly and then they become Diaboromon, who is dangerous physically." Koushiro looked up at the screens. "There are so many of them, but they aren't eating data, they aren't evolving, they aren't doing anything; just frolicking."

"A distraction then." the woman said.

Koushiro narrowed his eyes and then reached down and opened his smart phone. "The message-"

"Close that before-" the woman shouted.

"It's safe, I put this building's network around a personal firewall." Koushiro said lifting his hand. "The Kuramon that had been attached in this message was embedded in a photo-" Koushiro tapped at the phone. The photo opened. Koushiro gulped slightly. He knew that photo, they all had a copy of that photo, well all of the original eight. It was a picture of them in the Digital World right after the defeat of Apocalymon. He looked at the message. It was a simple one, a request. Koushiro whispered. "Do you know who they are?"

"They were looking for you?" the woman asked.

"Possibly." Koushiro said. His thought was broken by the sound of voices. He looked up and frowned slightly inside.

"IZZY!" came the voice of Mimi as she walked through the door and climbed down a set of stairs. "This is crazy right!?"

"It's pretty, confusing, Mimi-" Koushiro said as he tried to block her out and resume his thoughts. He stopped. "Mimi, give me your phone!"

"I-I don't have it, the guy that brought me does." Mimi said as she looked at all the terminals. "Oh wow, this looks fancy-" Mimi reached forward.

"Don't touch it!" Koushiro yelped, slapping Mimi's hand.

"Oh, well, looks like we weren't the first here." Koushiro looked up to see Yamato, Takeru and Sora walking into the room with a woman walking behind them.

"Guys give me your phones." Koushiro said beckoning with his hand.

"Our phones?" Sora said as she reached into her pocket.

The others gave him their phones. Koushiro opened them. The message for Yamato and Sora were the same, but Takeru's.

"Yours is different." Koushiro said, looking up at Takeru. He pointed the phone at Takeru.

"Yeah that was a picture that Ken's mom took at that Christmas party we had when the control spires started showing up in Japan." Takeru said looking at the screen. "I haven't seen that in a while…"

"I just don't see why you have to push!" shouted Daisuke's voice.

The others looked up to see Daisuke and Hikari walk into the room. Behind them was Taichi who was pushing Daisuke.

"Phone!" demanded Koushiro as he ran up to Daisuke and Hikari. The two younger kids handed Koushiro their phones. "Same as Takeru's…" Koushiro said a few minutes later. "But both pictures ask if the receivers know who we are…"

"JYOU!" yelped Mimi as the girl pointed. The others looked up to see Jyou wobbly push through the door. His hair was mussed up, his clothes disheveled.

"You look like crap!" Yamato said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, getting tasered does that to you." Jyou growled as he straightened his clothes.

"They tasered you!?" Sora asked.

"Yeah, just because I didn't want to get into a car with a stranger." Jyou said as he walked down the stairs. His eyes met the woman in the military fatigues. He narrowed his eyes and pointed. "I suppose you were the one behind that!"

"Sorry, it's protocol, when the Digital World starts to impinge on the human world, I am under orders to gather the Chosen Ones. Whether they want to be gathered or not." the woman said, unflinching in the face of Jyou's indignation.

The door opened again, this time it was Iori, and Ken, and Miyako. They were ushered in.

"They got you over the Rainbow bridge safely then!" the brigadier said as she walked forward. "We were worried that the bridge would be blocked."

A man behind the children stood to attention. "It was blocked, ma'am. We had to use a helicopter."

"I got a guy in a sedan." Miyako grunted, folding her hands over her chest.

"I'm surprised you didn't demand a rickshaw, empress." Daisuke glowered at the girl.

"Oh don't start with me, gogglehead." Miyako growled. "I was in the middle of my show when this burly guy busts in and grabs me."

"Well, I was in the middle of my date-" Daisuke started, as he flipped up the collar of his red and blue jacket.

"Ken and I were at kendo practice-" Iori said, with his raspy voice.

"We have more important things to worry about now." Taichi shouted loudly, looking at everyone. "These Kuramon, firstly."

Everyone turned and looked to Koushiro. The cinnamon haired boy looked at everyone and then around himself and then pointed to himself. "Me?"

"You're the brainy one." Daisuke said.

"I'm looking for where they came from." Koushiro said as he turned to the terminals. He walked past Mimi, and sat down. He peered at the screens and quickly became aware of Mimi nosing in alongside of him. He frowned and gently put his hand up and pushed her head back. He looked back to the screen. "There-" He pointed. "Dark net server, looks like…" He looked at the lines of code. A flash of something familiar flew by. He pulled back. "Oh, oh dear-"

"Oh dear?" Yamato said as he and the others huddled around Koushiro.

"Yeah, they've been busy on the net." Koushiro said as he turned his head back to everyone. "I saw code in there for Diaboromon."

"God-" Taichi groaned.

"Good news, I know exactly where he is." Koushiro said. He turned and opened a gate program. "So-"

"Yeah, Yamato, come on. Let's end this already." Taichi said, as he lifted his D-3, grabbing Yamato's hand. The gate program barely had time to open before the gate flashed to life and sucked the two teens into the screen.

"Guys-I…" Koushiro yelped as he dove out of the way. He lifted his head and sighed loudly. "I'll send Gabumon and Agumon to where he's at then…"

"We'll go too!" Takeru and Hikari said as they scrambled forward.

"Then we should go, you know just in case!" Miyako and Iori said as they walked forward.

Before Koushiro could say anything. The four kids were gone.

"Right let me add Patamon, Salamon, Hawkmon and Armadillomon." Koushiro grumbled.

"Hey I want to-" Daisuke started.

"Stay there!" A voice came from the terminals' speakers. It was Taichi. "We don't know what the Kuramon that are already in the human world are doing. We can handle Diaboromon, you stay back in case this is what it feels like it is."

"What do you mean?" Daisuke asked.

"A trap-" Ken said as he walked forward. The boy was still in his kendo outfit. A white bogu and a dark blue hakama. "I remember you telling me that Diaboromon gave you a bit of a run around the last time he showed up."

"Yes, we chased him all over the web." Koushiro said as he looked at the screen. "According to these logs…"

"He's not left the server he formed on." Ken said, his lips thinning.

"Are they going to be ok?" Mimi asked looking with concern to Koushiro.

"Even if it is a trap, Diaboromon can't take Omegamon, ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon…" Koushiro said as he looked at the screen. "He couldn't handle Omegamon…"

"Then we should start worrying about these Kuramon out here then." the brigadier said. "How do we deal with them?"

"I've been having a think about that." Koushiro said as he turned in his chair. "I think I may have figured that part out."

888

"Taichi!" Agumon's voice called from the depths of the spiralling tube that the boy was flying through.

Taichi turned to see the yellow tyrannosaur diving towards him. Behind the little tyrannosaur was a small mammal looking digimon with a horn and a blue pelt.

"Gabumon!" Yamato shouted as the blonde smiled at the incoming digimon.

"Matt! It's been too long!" the digimon called out as it dove towards the boy. The two embraced.

Agumon dove for Taichi but Taichi twisted and looked further ahead towards the opening at the end of the tube.

Taichi lifted his D-3. "Agumon, we don't have much time, it's Diaboromon!"

"Tai?" Agumon asked, but the little tyrannosaur nodded and blazed with a light, emerging as a armored dragon warrior.

WarGreymon sliced through forward, and Taichi dropped down onto the brave shields on his shoulder. Taichi looked over to Yamato.

"Gabumon, let's go." Yamato said as he lifted his D-3. The blue-pelted digimon nodded a glowed with a blue light emerging as the lupine cyborg Metal Garurumon. Yamato grasped the two airfoils that stuck out from the wolf's shoulders as the cyborg charged forward.

Taichi and Yamato looked eyes and then looked forward as their digimon erupted into the opening, exiting the tube they had been flying through. The room was huge inside, and dark, save for the ambient lighting that glowed from spears of data that fired from one side of the room to the next going into and leaving different portals. Suddenly flood lights flashed on and the room was fully illuminated. The lanky figure of cable-like tendons attached to armor, its head vaguely that of a cybernetic demon. Long claws hung from the end of tendonous arms and legs. Its chameleon like pair of eyes swirled around in a mad fashion.

The two boys nodded to each other. The cybernetic wolf and the dragon warrior glowed. The two forms drawn together. The boys reached out for each other to stabilize themselves on the coalescing form of a white knight, one arm with the head of WarGreymon, the other sporting the head of Metal Garurumon.

"Wait for us!" shouted the voice of Miyako. The two boys looked back to see Hikari and Miyako holding onto the blue armor of Ophanimon. Behind the two girls were Takeru and Iori holding onto the terracotta wings of ClavisAngemon.

"We don't have time to wait." Taichi growled, as he turned his head back up to the bundle of cables and armor that composed Diaboromon.

The digimon hadn't moved, since they had got there. It simply sat pressed against the wall of the room, like some massive, vaguely human-shaped, demon-spider in its web.

"He doesn't seem interested in us?" Omegamon said with the two voices of WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon.

"Then let's get his attention." Taichi said, narrowing his eyes. "Maybe we're lucky and this one is stupid."

"Right!" Omegamon said and lifted its Metal Garurumon arm. The mouth of the lupine head opened revealing a cannon. "Garuru Cannon!"

A blast of blue fired up towards Diaboromon. The digimon's mad, chameleon eyes stopped twirling and quickly swiveled towards the incoming blast. It's head tilted as its face glowed blue with the incoming fire. Then from out of the shadows came millions, legions of Kuramon. The creatures swarmed the blast twisting around it and then the cloud of Kuramon dispersed and hovered there as a fog of Kuramon all staring at the children. The blast was gone, consumed by the cloud, the Kuramon then glowed and immediately doubled in number.

"They ate it!" Miyako shouted in surprise.

"How!?" Takeru asked.

"There's millions of them, they must of diluted it amongst themselves-" Iori surmised, as he looked up at Diaboromon who had returned to madly looking in all directions. "They're protecting him."

"Well then, if a cannon blast won't work we'll slice him to bits!" Taichi growled, as his fingers curled around the spoke on Omegamon's shoulder.

The knight nodded extended its WarGreymon arm and the long broadsword sliced out of the mouth of the WarGreymon head. The knight pivoted forward and shot towards Diaboromon. As the knight charged forward. The Kuramon swirled forming massive walls, interlocking themselves together into panes of solid mass. Omegamon roared as he smashed through the first, and the second. Each time the knight slowed down. The Kuramon grabbed onto the knight and the knight growled as it felt tiny stings against its body. By the fourth wall of Kuramon, Omegamon was nearly stopped as the Kuramon swarmed around him. The knight sliced furiously at the cloud of little digimon swarming him, but it was like applying a machete to a swarm of mosquitoes.

"That's our opening." Ophanimon said, as the female angel looked over to ClavisAngemon.

"Right!" the male angel said and the two of them flew up towards Diaboromon.  
The Kuramon tried to form up into walls but too many of them were swarming around Omegamon, so where the knight had hit concrete the angels were punching through tissue paper. The pair of angels swept up to Diaboromon. The demon virus's eyes swiveled down to them as they brought their weapons up and sliced forward. Ophanimon's lance clashed against ClavisAngemon's key blade as Diaboromon leapt over their heads, his tendonous neck twisted down looking at them as he sailed into the open air of the room. His body twisted as his chest armor opened revealing a cannon inside. Diaboromon fired blasts at the two angels who retreated as the bombardments exploded into the wall of the room. The angels regrouped and then made pursuit as Diaboromon bounced across the room. All the while, Omegamon swatted at the millions of Kuramon.

Diaboromon opened its toothy mouth and the barrel of a small cannon popped out of his mouth and strafed the angels as they ducked and weaved towards him. Ophanimon sliced her lance forward and fired a blast of blue lightning up and struck Diaboromon sending the virus tumbling through the open air of the room. As the demon virus tumbled ClavisAngemon turned towards Omegamon and stabbed his key blade into the ether and opened a giant luminous gate that fired a blast at the knight. Omegamon twisted blocking the blast from Taichi and Yamato. The two boys ducked and covered themselves as the burst of energy swarmed past them. When it had gone, they lifted their heads to see the Kuramon had been scattered.

"Now!" shouted Yamato loudly. Omegamon launched himself towards Diaboromon.

The Kuramon however were quick to recover and started forming walls. ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon however dove in front of Omegamon smashing through the walls crashing through the concrete, breaking down the barriers, one after another, until they were right there in front of Diaboromon. The virus moved to leap away, but ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon grabbed him by the arms, holding him in place. Omegamon stabbed his Grey Sword into Diaboromon's shoulder and rammed the Garuru Cannon into Diaboromon's stomach.

Diaboromon squealed loudly, the first sound the beast had made, as the blasts of the Garuru Cannon went off into his gut. His eyes swiveled around and around as he fell limply backward. The kids looked around themselves as the Kuramon that were floating in the air around stared back at Diaboromon and then as if one they all twisted towards the portals where data was streaming in and out of the room and flew towards them as torrents. The kids looked back down to Diaboromon. The demon virus's eyes froze and then swiveled to stare directly at them, and the beast then laughed. Diaboromon glowed brightly and then exploded into a million Kuramon that joined their brethren in the exiting data streams.

"It was a trap!" shouted Yamato as the last of the Kuramon disappeared into the data streams and the portals all slammed shut leaving the kids in the dark.

888

"I can't believe this is what we're doing!" Daisuke grumbled as he, held up the palm pilot. The Kuramon tried to scurry away but a light came out of the pilot and pulled the Kuramon in.

"Well, that's seventy-three down-" Ken said in an uplifting tone.

"Yeah, only one point six billion left to go-" Daisuke grunted, as he looked over to another Kuramon. "This will take forever."

"If Koushiro can get the secured recycle bin to everyone in the city and everyone participates we can clean this up globally in no time." Ken said, with a smile as he saw a little girl with a Kuramon in her arms.

"I don't know…I still think this will take forever." Daisuke said as he turned and stared up at the sky. The sky was dark and swirling above where Taichi and Hikari used to live. He looked to Ken who was busy attending to a little girl who was hugging one of the Kuramon trying to coax her into letting him suck it into the secured recycle bin on his palm pilot. Daisuke ran over to Ken. He nudged Ken and pointed. "Hey…was it that stormy looking when we got here?"

"No, the forecast called for-" Ken started as he looked up. "The digital gate-"

"What?" Daisuke looked at Ken.

"At Hikarigaoka!" Ken shouted. "The place that Oikawa tried to get into the Digital World…something's trying to punch through!"

The vortex twisted and then as if someone had turned on a faucet a torrent of Kuramon rushed down from the darkness. Ken turned to the little girl who looked up at the sky her mouth wide opened. The Kuramon she was holding wriggled free and flew towards the torrent. Ken's phone rang.

"Who is it now?" Daisuke yelped.

"It's Koushiro, he wants us back to the UNIT headquarters, he's got Veemon and Wormmon there and the others' digimon." Ken said, one hand over the receiver portion of his phone. He listened intently and furrowed his brow. "It was what I feared, Taichi and the others are stuck in the internet server, it was some kind of trap laid by Diaboromon."

"Then we need to get online and get Hikari!" Daisuke yelped, as he turned to run. "Come on!"

"Wait!" Ken shouted. "Listen, we're going to UNIT headquarters, but we're getting our digimon and staying here." Ken looked at the torrent of Kuramon that were now swirling above Hikarigaoka, they seemed to falling into some kind of formation. "I don't like the looks of that…"

"It's like some kind of giant…egg?" Daisuke said looking up at it.

"Yeah-" Ken said, as he took Daisuke's hand and started to walk. "My experience is that giant eggs create, something equally giant. Let's get going…."

 **8888**

 **AN: Dun-dun-dun!**


	4. Rainbow Bridges Falling Down

**Rainbow Bridges Falling Down**

 **888**

Daisuke pushed through the heavy door of the room. Immediately he was assaulted by the sound of activity. Sora and Mimi and Jyou were on telephones. Koushiro was fiddling with the computer terminals, people in fatigues were scuttling around. And amongst them were the digimon.

"No, I said do _not_ fight anything that comes out of that egg, Ruki!" Jyou shouted into the phone. "I-just listen to Takato…I-oh for crying out loud!"

Jyou grunted as he pulled the phone from his ear. The tinny voice of a girl shouting several expletives thrummed from the speaker. At his feet was Gomamon, and the little white seal's cheeks turned as red as his mohawk as the invectives came hurling from the phone. Daisuke smiled to himself as he felt Ken push into the room behind him.

"KEN!" the warbling voice of Wormmon called as the green caterpillar scrambled and leapt up a set of stairs and over desks and tables.

"Daishuke!" Daisuke hardly had time to look up before his vision was encapsulated in blue and he was sent floundering backwards against the wall under the aggressive hugging of a small, blue dragon.

"Veemon, jeesh!" Daisuke yelped as he fell backward. He grunted as he hit the wall and slid down to the ground. "What have they been feeding you in the Digital World, you weigh a ton!"

"Have they been starving you!?" Veemon yelped in response as he poked a clawed finger against the skinny tummy of Daisuke.

"Hey, I just am burning through my baby fat!" Daisuke yelped, trying to suppress a giggle.

"He's trying to stay in shape for Hikari." Ken said, as he held Wormmon in his arms and smiled at Daisuke.

"It's for soccer!" Daisuke said quickly, looking up at Ken, blushing.

"Uh huh-" Ken said smirking as he walked away and down the stairs. Ken turned his attention to the older kids. "So, any idea of what's actually going on?"

"The server that Diaboromon lured Taichi and the others to has been disconnected." Koushiro called out without looking up from his computer. "I'm trying to reinitialize connection with it, but it's not working."

"What about that egg up in the sky?" Daisuke called as he tried to get up from under Veemon.

"It seems Diaboromon was trying to locate the Hikarigaoka digital gate." A woman in fatigues said. Daisuke recognized her as Brigadier Bambera from last year. "You attacking it was part of its plan."

"That's a dumb plan!" Mimi said as she hung up a phone. "Inviting us to destroy it."

"No, it's brilliant." Koushiro said, leaning back in his chair and looking up at everyone. "It needed to use the biggest gate between this world and the Digital World to fully realize in the Human World. Somehow it must have figured out that we lived near that gate…"

"And it knew we'd come and get it if it ever reared its head again!" Sora said, as sat down and put her hand on Biyomon's head.

"And topping on the cake is that when we came, not only would we give it precisely the information it needed to find the gate at Hikarigaoka, it could trap the only thing that could defeat it on the web." Jyou said as he put the phone down.

"Did someone say cake?" Veemon asked hopping to the bottom of the stairs.

"Not now!" Tentomon buzzed, he then stopped and turned to Koushiro. "Though some little cookies would be great right now…"

"Not only that but Diaboromon wasn't destroyed." Koushiro grumbled glaring at the screen. "He couldn't transmit himself as a Mega digimon through the server network, at least not without triggering the defense countermeasures that UNIT installed after the initial Diaboromon attack."

"So…then…" Mimi scratched head and looked to Palmon, the flower digimon shrugged is verdant shoulders.

"It discorporated, basically it broke itself down into millions of Kuramon...it turned itself into a giant bit-torrent to ease the transmission of itself to servers in Odaiba." Koushiro growled glaring at the screen. "Small enough to slip through UNIT defenses, small enough to quickly translate through to the block transfer matrix between the Digital World and here…"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Daisuke lifted his hand as he walked over next to Mimi. "What I'm hearing is Diaboromon is coming here!"

"Essentially." Koushiro said, nodding.

Daisuke right hand punched his left. "Then he's screwed up! Because we're going to smash him the moment he emerges!"

"Maybe-" Koushiro said as he sat forward and looked at the screen. "The data profile from the surveillance drones is different than the data profile that was on the server."

"Surveillance drones?" Mimi looked up. "I thought big digimon knocked out electronics?"

"Ah, well, yes…that would be my doing." a thin man with, well quaffed hair ambled down the steps. He wore a lavender suit jacket and dark brown vest with a dark blue bowtie. Behind him was a brown haired girl, in a yellow jumper and a red-checked skirt. "Not completely my doing, just the implementation, I suspect! I mean, the American's helped, what's his name Jobs, and Woz and the other one…oh-" the man snapped his fingers.

"Bill Gates…" The woman with the man said.

"That's the one!" the man said snapping his fingers and then cheerfully pointing finger guns at the girl.

"Dr. Smith!" Koushiro said spinning around and jumping to his feet.

"Well, one of them." the lanky man said shrugging his shoulders. He turned to the girl behind him. "Hello all, I'm Dr. Smith, codename 'Matthew'!"

"I just call him 'The Chin'." the girl said.

"OI! When you've finished your doctorate you get to chose the codenames…" Dr. Smith said narrowing his eyes as the girl. "Speaking of which, this is my assistant, codename: The Impossible Girl…" He smiled a self satisfied smile, "or the Infamous T.I.G…"

"Or you could just use my real name, Clara Oswald." the girl said waving timidly at the children.

"Where's the Williamses, Amy and Rory?" Jyou asked looking around.

"Ah, the Ponds you mean…maternity leave." the lanky man said smiling, then he frowned slightly, "That's the trouble with a married couple, they tend to get…distracted." He turned to Clara. "Clara's on loan from Dr. Smit, codename 'Scottish Fury'…"

"He means, 'The Eyebrows'…" The girl said.

"No, I really don't, Ms. Oswald. You know, I'll give you back and take one of Smit's new assistants." Dr. Smith said tetchily.

"Which one, the plump one or the college student?" Clara asked.

"Both if you aren't very careful!" Dr. Smith growled.

"'Your' doing?" Jyou asked sighingly, as he tried to reign in the conversation.

"Ah yes, the US built clockwork jets…" Dr. Smith said as he walked forward. "I thought, hey why not miniaturize it and make clockwork surveillance drones."

"The drones are built with gear-driven thought engines inside, instead of digital computers." Brigadier Bambera said, walking forward. "Gear-motors not electric…"

"Only the sensors are digital, and they are shielded physically by metal plating." Dr. Smith took over as he soft-shoed down the stairs. "They have a little translation box inside of them to translate the electrical information into mechanical information…" He stared at the incoming data and smiled to himself. "Bit like how your retinas are a translator for the occipital lobe of your brain that turns photon signals into biochemical transmitters…."

"Sounds icky-" Mimi said looking at Dr. Smith.

"Yep, just about, you must be Mimi-" the man replied. He blinked and refocused his attention. "None-the-less fully digimon proofed." The screens with the feed suddenly turned to static. Dr. Smith furrowed his brows. "Unless…"

"Last reading had a massive influx of thermal energy coming from the incursion." a woman called from one of the terminals. "I believe there was an air inflow caused by the pressure differential created by the heat swing. It caused the drone to fly into the digital construct."

"Thank you, Miss Himekawa, glad to see you here." Dr. Smith said as he patted her on the shoulder. She looked up at him and he looked back down at her, but Daisuke noted, his eyes didn't manage to convey the level of camaraderie his words had. Dr. Smith looked up and then smiled broadly. "Nishijima! You old so and so…Clara…this guy has an amazing joke about a fish named Jim building a dam!"

"I believe your wife told me it, already…" Clara said.

"I've told her not to do that…giving out spoilers all the time!" Dr. Smith grumbled as he continued to survey the screens.

"I've regained visual!" Himekawa reported. The screens flicked over.

"The Kuramon…are gone!" Mimi yelped as she pointed. The formations of Kuramon were gone but the egg was still there and furthermore.

"Not gone…" Koushiro stated. "They've merged with the egg…it's going to hatch!"

"Right, now is the time for the children to do what you do?" Brigadier Bambera stated.

"Flail about until our digimon evolve and kill the monster that's harassing us this week?" Jyou asked as he took off his glasses and wiped them with the hem of his shirt.

"What about Taichi and the others?" Mimi asked looking at the dark screen that the others had disappeared into.

"Right now we have, a higher priority!" Brigadier Bambera growled, glaring at the kids.

"No, we have to get that server up and functioning." Sora said as she stood up. "We need to get the others out."

"If Diaboromon emerges in the Human World on top of Odaiba-" the brigadier growled.

"Possibly millions of people could die and untold billions in damage could be done to Japan." Dr. Smith said, his steely gaze unflinching to the flaring nostrils and snarl on the brigadier's face. "But we have no idea what condition the children on the server are in, they could be suffocating, or being eaten alive, or deleted from existence…and if we ignore those children and they die, Winnie, we will lose something far worse that some lives or property, we'll lose our humanity-" He looked over at the other children, "and frankly that's all we've ever had; all of these cataclysms, we've never had any control over any of it, no way of saving ourselves, only the Chosen Ones, and they come as a package deal. We must save those children on the server!" The brigadier glared at Dr. Smith but Dr. Smith didn't back down, the brigadier looked away in annoyance. Dr. Smith nodded and smiled. Dr. Smith looked down at Miss Himekawa and then to Mr. Nishijima. "Right, I didn't say that we couldn't do both things at once though! Me, TIG, Maki and Daigo will work on the server business…you kids, if you would please, save the city one more time."

Daisuke looked at the others, and they all looked at Dr. Smith.

"He's right, we gotta get going!" Daisuke said, as he stepped forward, Veemon hopped to his side. "Let's do this!"

888

"I spy with my eye something that is black-" Takeru whispered in the dark.

"Is it everything?" Yamato grumbled, Tai could hear the folded arms of annoyance in his voice.

"How, how long do you think we'll be stuck here?" Iori asked, his feet scraped along the terracotta wings of ClavisAngemon.

"How long has it been?" Takeru asked.

"Hours? Minutes, Days?" Miyako whimpered. "It's impossible to tell!"

"Twenty minutes, forty-five seconds." Taichi said quietly as he flipped open his cell phone, blearily looking at the screen. "Weird, the little clock inside is still keeping time."

"How do you feel, Ophanimon?" Hikari asked.

"I think we'll be ok, it's surprising I thought this would be more exhausting…" The angel said. "It's been a while since we've had to go to his level."

"It feels weird though…" ClavisAngemon said. "Different than before-"

"Yeah, I've never felt this way before-" Omegamon said.

"Different how?" Yamato asked.

"Just…itchy-" Gabumon's voice said. "But not weak or anything just…itchy-"

"It's probably just the dark-" Taichi said, as he narrowed his eyes to the pitch. "It's messing with our heads."

"What do you think is going on outside? Where did Diaboromon go?" Iori asked.

"If I had a guess he went to the Human World." Yamato said. Taichi heard him slip down and sit on Omegamon's shoulder. "His goal was always to affect chaos in the human world, last time he was going to hack into the world's nuclear arsenal…this time, I guess he decided to just do it himself."

"If you want something done right, do it yourself…" Takeru quipped, chuckling lightly.

"You find this funny!?" Miyako shouted. There was a scuffling sound and Miyako's voice moved in the darkness towards where Takeru's voice had come. "We're trapped here! You realize we will probably die here, maybe we suffocate when the oxygen is used up, maybe we starve, or no we'll dehydrate first! And you're just quipping away! Captain Quippy having a laugh while we're trapped waiting to-"

There was a smack. The pulse of blushing red was almost visible in the darkness simply from the sound of the slap itself.

"We aren't going to die!" Hikari's voice rang out. "We just have to be a little brave, trust that our friends will find a way to get us out of here."

"I-I'm sorry-but it's just it's so dark here." Miyako said quietly.

"I have faith in Koushiro and the others, they love us far too much to abandon us in the dark. We just have to have a little hope." Hikari said quietly, calmly.

"Wait, you said your phone's clock was still keeping time?" Iori said sharply.

"Yeah." Taichi replied.

"Do you have signal?" Iori asked.

"Of course not, why would I…" Taichi stopped, and then thrust his hand into his pants pocket and floundered around grabbing at the little flip phone. The phone opened the light blazed in the complete darkness surrounding the kids. Taichi winced. "I don't believe it…"

"What?" Miyako leapt up to her feet.

Taichi turned the phone around. "I've got two bars!"

"We're not even in a physical dimension!" Miyako yelped.

"Evidently my parents got one hell of a phone plan!" Taichi said looking at the screen.

"Can't hold a phone conversation though." Yamato said. "You'll get dropped."

"No but I can send a text message!" Taichi said as his thumbs rifled over the keys of the phone.

888

Koushiro's phone buzzed. He stopped running, as Jyou and the others rushed to the edge of the bay-side park. He hiked up the computer satchel that he kept his laptop in as he reached for his phone. He flipped his phone open.

"Prodigious!" Koushiro shouted, as he stared gobsmacked at his phone.

"What?" Jyou skidded to a stop and ran back to Koushiro.

"It's Taichi!" Koushiro pointed the phone to Jyou. "It's a text message from Taichi…"

"What?! How!?" Jyou yelled.

"I don't know…" Koushiro furrowed his brow. "He should be cut off from us complete-ly…wait a minute! Wait a minute! There's a backdoor to the server, through the cell phone network…Of course!"

"And that's good?" Jyou asked.

"It's great! It means…It means there's a way to access the server, and if Taichi can get a text message through then we can get a command prompt through….which means-" Koushiro was starting to ramble when there was a loud cracking sound. Koushiro stopped and snapped his head up.

The egg opened like some kind of empty nesting doll, or one of those plastic eggs American's fuss with in the Spring. He wasn't exactly sure what he expected to come out, but what he saw wasn't it. It was a mishmash of things. A dragon or a lizard, like some kind of basilisk creature fused with one of those water striding insects. It had six, insectoid legs attached to a torso of a giant lizard, a long herpetofaunal tail that ended in a scorpion-like stinger, its head was like a dragon version of Diaboromon's with long horns branching from each side and a small snout horn. It was massive and it fell unfurling its long legs. Jyou leapt onto a bench as the monster hit the water creating a small tidal wave to swamp the park; the spray of which drenched Koushiro and Jyou. Koushiro heard the creature it's breaths dragging in and out in long drawn out hisses. Its green eyes wandered in all directions like a chameleons before coming into sharp focus.

"That's-that's not-" Jyou yelped.

"No, it isn't." Koushiro said, gulping. He further ahead. Daisuke and Ken and Sora and Mimi were standing as shocked as he was.

"Guys, we should be doing something!" shouted Daisuke loudly.

"He's right. This thing's not going to be calm for long." Koushiro said. He looked up to where Tentomon was buzzing, and then looked back to Jyou. "Are you ready to do this?"

"If I said no, could we just go home?" Jyou asked.

"It hasn't ever worked that way before." Koushiro said.

"Come on, Jyou, let's go!" Gomamon chirped looking up at Jyou.

Jyou took a deep breath, straightened his glasses and adjusted the tie and straightened the collar of his shirt. "Right then, if we're doing this, we're doing it!"

The sky flared to life as six digimon burned into the sky and in quick succession became three bigger digimon as they fused together.

"I'm going to send Dr. Smith Taichi's phone number, and a text telling him about what we just found out." Koushiro said quickly. He sent the text and looked up at the monster, then back at the text Taichi sent. "We're coming guys just hold on!"

888

"Ms. Himekawa are you finished writing the update to the dot exe file?" Dr. Smith asked as he rushed past.

"Just give me a second." Maki responded as she stared at the screen. Lines of code slid down the monitor as she sped through the proofreading. Something caught her eye.

"That's not the command code?" Nishijima said. Maki looked up to see him peering over to her terminal.

"I'm just making sure I've got appropriate domains configured." Maki said hurriedly as she flicked over to another window. She narrowed her eyes. _"Impossible-_ " she thought to herself. She recognized that code command structure, it was the same code commands that wiped their databases in 2002. The same code structure appeared in the barrier reestablishment program last year; it was a code that seemed insanely familiar and yet. The gears clicked half a turn. Her eyes widened.

"Ms. Himekawa!?" Dr. Smith shouted.

"Right, yes-" Maki flicked a look at the screen, proofread the script and forwarded it to Nishijima. "It's sent."

Nishijima's phone buzzed and he opened it. Dr. Smith slid to his side. "Now, send the file via text as a hyperlink to the phone number Mr. Izumi sent us. Instructing the Yagami boy to open the hyperlink, the process of doing so should open a trojan horse with the execution program inside of it…if I'm right that program should then open the server."

Nishijima quickly tapped with his thumbs and then pressed the send button. Dr. Smith smiled broadly and then he looked over to Maki. Dr. Smith's smile faded.

"What?" Maki asked turning away from Dr. Smith.

"Nothing just, I've seen you work before, never taken that long for you cobble together a program like this… " Dr. Smith said quietly, and then turned to look at the phone. "It's on its way!"

888

Taichi's phone buzzed weakly in the dark. Taichi jumped up and opened the phone blinking at the bright light in the darkness. The others surrounded him.

"Click the hyperlink-" Iori said, looking at the screen.

"Right- " Taichi said as he scrolled down to link and it highlighted. He pressed the small enter button on his phone.

The screen of the phone went dark. Taichi growled in frustration slamming the phone shut.

"It didn't work?" Hikari asked.

"We're still here aren't-" Miyako started.

There was an airy rumble from all around them. It started as a low glow. The walls of the server slowly became brighter. They could see the small twirling designs of the walls. The massive gray, doors still firmly shut.

"We should get ready, who knows what will happen." Taichi said as he eyed the doors. "This whole thing could be booby-trapped."

"Or it may not stay active long." Yamato said looking over at Taichi.

"If those doors open, we make a run at them." Taichi nodded.

Yamato gripped the spoke on Omegamon's shoulder. "Takeru, Hikari get yourselves and Iori and Miyako out, we'll be right behind."

"Right." Takeru said.

There was a beeping noise or the sounds of klaxons. The walls pulsed orange. Then the doors shuddered, they flickered red three times and then pulsed brightly green. The heavy, industrial looking portals then slowly slid open and as they did streams of data flew into the room.

"GO!" Taichi shouted.

888

"Positron Laser!"

A stream of ionized plasma exploded into new digimon. Daisuke clenched his fists watching as the massive digimon skittered across the bay, his long clawed legs never breaking the surface tension of the water. It's chameleon-like eyes swiveled up catching view of the black and blue dragon with red wings, lifting its arm again as another pulse of plasma fired down upon it. It shook its head and roared as the blasts exploded in the water around it.

"Megaton Hydro Laser!" The beast's eyes swiveled and focused on the massive be-cannoned turtle JumboGamemon stalking in the bay as it turned all of its weaponry at. The torrent of water smashed into monster's face and the beast snarled in annoyance.

"Aurora Undulation!" A blasting light from above seared the creature's armor. The insect-lizard-demon looked up to see a six-winged phoenix gliding above it emitting and unsettling pearlescent glow.

"Get him!" Daisuke cheered loudly as he punched the air. They had caught it off-guard when it had emerged and had planned to keep the monster on the defensive trying to push it away from the Rainbow Bridge.

"We shouldn't be getting too excited." Ken said looking over to Daisuke and then to the older kids who looked far more reserved and pensive. Ken looked to the monster. It skidded across the water. "It's not even hurt, it should be hurt…" Ken looked over to Koushiro. "Is there really nothing about this thing?"

Koushiro looked over to Ken and pulled the small pineapple laptop out of his satchel. As the computer booted up Imperialdramon, Valdurmon and JumboGamemon started another round of attacks on the monster.

"Come on….I need to get more RAM on this thing…" Koushiro growled as he glared at the screen. "Ah, here! It's name is Armageddemon…..and it's…"

Koushiro's face paled as he looked at the screen.

"What is it, Izzy?" Mimi asked as she tried to peer over his shoulder.

Koushiro instantly slammed the laptop shut. He took a step forward looking at Armageddemon. "Was that the plan? But it should be impossible-"

"What?" Daisuke turned around and narrowed his eyes.

"It's-he's…an Ultra digimon." Koushiro said as he watched the three Mega digimon on their side strike the monster with everything they had.

"Wait, Ultra digimon?" Jyou said looking up. "Wasn't that what-"

"It was whatever Daemon became." Ken said as he turned to the bay.

The steam and the smoke and the flashes of energy cleared. The monster lifted its head through the smoke. It didn't growl, it didn't snarl, it simply seemed to smile. Tiny ports opened along the ridge of Armageddemon's back.

"Be careful he's going to attack!" Sora shouted loudly.

The ports exploded, firing projectiles high up into the sky. The burning meteors arced through the air, whistling and then rained down.

"Protect the bridge!" shouted Jyou loudly as he pointed. People were still there, trapped by the traffic jam, though several were stupidly watching the battle from the bridge edge.

"No, those people!" Mimi screamed.

Valdurmon and Imperialdramon flew to action. Valdurmon extended the glow from her wings outward into a arching shield that encapsulated the bridge as Imperialdramon lifted his gauntlet and extended a tensor shield to help boost Valdurmon's bubble. The meteors exploded against the shielding, the bubble of energy flexed and wobbled against the bombardment. JumboGamemon started firing his cannons at the rain of explosive ammunition trying to knock out the explosives before they hit. Armageddemon's back continued to erupt in cinder bombs that rocked the shield. The bubble kept shrinking as Valdurmon and Imperialdramon strained against the attack. JumboGamemon was firing with all his artillery by the cinder bombs were small, and almost innumerable.

The kids watched on helpless as the shield shrunk and highest towers of the bridge became exposed, and exploded as the cinders hit them. Armageddemon slid across the water's surface. The cinders flying upwards. It growled loudly, opening its massive tuatara-like maw.

"Destiny Destroyer!"

Armageddemon up-chucked a massive cinder blast that rifled through the air, looking to hit the bridge and the three Mega digimon dead on. The shield was failing from the bombardment, the digimon busy protecting the people on the bridge.

The sky burst into light. A pillar of gold exploded downward.

"Grey Sword!" An arc of light sliced outwards from the pillar of light, bisecting and neutralizing the ancillary attack from Armageddemon.

The arc of light sliced across Armageddemon's face, the monster howled as a slit cut across his face armor. The pillar of light faded revealing Omegamon hovering above the water's surface, his sword drawn, and his Garuru Cannon raised, and glowing blue. Behind the white knight Ophanimon and ClavisAngemon were flying towards Daisuke and the others, and the two angels deposited Taichi, Yamato, Hikari, Takeru, Miyako with the other children.

Armageddemon roared in rage as it glared at Omegamon. The two angel digimon looked back to see Omegamon rush Armageddemon firing blast after blast from his Garuru Cannon. The continuous pulses pushed Armageddemon backwards as Omegamon advanced. The monster roared loudly and fired blasts out of its mouth. Omegamon sliced past the blasts dodging left and right as the massive cinders exploded into the bay creating massive clouds of steam that filled the bay.

"We need to help the others!" Ophanimon said as she pointed with her lance towards the bridge.

ClavisAngemon nodded and the two angels flew towards the bridge. As they did Omegamon exploded from the steam bank, his cannon pointed down and firing into the steam. There was a loud roar and a hailstorm of cinder bombs erupted into the air. Omegamon ducked and weaved through the bombardment as the cinders rained down. The steam hissed loudly from the bay and then cleared. Daisuke squinted into the dank, humid air. Omegamon swept out his sword arm and then dove, dropping to just above the water's surface. The Grey Sword glowed as the kanji came to life. Armageddemon roared loudly and fired blasts at Omegamon that the knight weaved past and then the knight leapt up, lifting his sword up and then plunging the tip of it deep into the skull of Armageddemon. The monster screamed a horrible squealing scream as it thrashed its head around. Omegamon bounced and jostled as the monster thrashed, being dragged by his sword around and around. Omegamon lifted his legs and braced them against Armageddemon's lower jaw and then pushed with his legs forcing the jaws open. The knight jammed the Garuru Cannon into the beast's mouth and then fired.

The kids winced as they watched. Each blast flying down the monster's gullet. Each one exploding deep in the body cavity of the creature creating an unpleasant looking, short-term plumpness in the beast's abdomen. Each blast eliciting a pathetic warbling scream from the beast as the explosion flared into its stomach.

The monster seemed to lose it composure, its insect-like legs seemed to shift unsure as to what to do as the knight that had impaled itself into his skull stopped firing as if waiting to see what would happen. The eyes of the beast lolled around before seemingly going dark.

"Is that it?" Miyako asked. "Omegamon beat him?"

The crowds on the bridge were cheering loudly. The kids could hear the faint roar from the park on the Odaiba side of the bay. The cheers very quickly went silent. The monster stirred; its eyes came to back to life and swiveled to focus on Omegamon.

"Destiny Destroyer!" A guttural growl called. The orange inferno exploded from Armageddemon's mouth, engulfing Omegamon. The knight was blasted free of Armageddemon. The monster opened its mouth again and three more of the blasts exploded into the tumbling body of Omegamon.

Taichi and Yamato ran to the very edge of the causeway, only stopping at the chain fencing because Jyou and Ken grabbed them, and were quickly supplemented by Daisuke, Takeru and Koushiro. The other Mega digimon turned and rushed Armageddemon but each were quickly and ruthless blasted back as Omegamon crashed into the bay. The knight slowly rose to its feet and glared looking at Armageddemon. It lifted its Garuru Cannon. The knight fired, the blue blast roared forward. Armageddemon opened its maw and blasted a massive cinder that blew through the Garuru Cannon blast and exploded into Omegamon the knight was flung backwards its back smashing into one of the arches of the Rainbow Bridge. Cables from the bridge snapped as the bridge bowed, the arch cracked bits of masonry and metal fell, the people on the bridge screamed. The kids looked on in horror as half the bridge simply gave way.

Daisuke looked over to Taichi. Taichi was frozen as he watched half the bridge collapse onto Omegamon. The knight fell forward, dropping to his knees. Daisuke gulped as he watched the eyes on the knight go out.

"O-meg-a-mon-" he heard Yamato whisper.

the other digimon were trying to scramble to save people but Armageddemon was having none of it. The monster roared and shot JumboGamemon in the back and the turtle crashed into the waves disappearing in a bright glow never to resurface. Valdurmon was struck in the breast and the massive bird twisted through the air struggling to fall through the gap the already smashed bridge had. Ophanimon and ClavisAngemon struck back at Armageddemon and Imperialdramon turned to snatch as many as he could as the angels parried around Armageddemon.

"Tai!" shouted Koushiro, as the cinnamon haired boy yelled at Taichi. "TAI!"

Taichi didn't respond he just stared blindly at Omegamon, at the bridge that was crumbling.

"Big brother!" Hikari shouted, grabbing Tai and yanking at his arm. Taichi didn't respond.

"We have to get back up, Tai!" Yamato shouted, having snapped himself out of whatever fugue he had been in a few minutes ago. "Come on, Tai!"

"ClavisAngemon watch out!" Iori shouted.

Everyone turned their attention back to the battle to see Armageddemon fire a blast into the terracotta angel's back. The angel twisted in the air. Ophanimon moved to catch the male angel only to find herself targeted and the two angels were sent hurtling towards the park. The kids dropped, with Jyou grabbing Taichi and pulling him down as the two angels crashed to the ground, glowed, reverting to their smaller Rookie forms. Taichi was just sitting numb on the ground, he sat there, staring slowly bringing his hands to his head.

"I think he's snapped!" Miyako shouted.

"Thanks, I think that was obvious!" Yamato retorted angrily.

"She's just-" Sora started.

"TAICHI SNAP OUT OF IT!" Yamato shouted and slapped Taichi.

Daisuke winced as he looked. Taichi just blinked, looking up at him. The tears welled up in his eyes. Daisuke gulped and turned his attention back to the bay. Imperialdramon rose up from the far side of the bay, having deposited what people he could and was darting around Armageddemon firing blasts of his positron laser at the beast. The monster roared angrily and fired barrages of cinders from its back. Imperialdramon flashed between the cinders.

"Where's Palmon?" Daisuke heard Mimi ask quickly.

"Down here!" Daisuke looked over the fence down to the rough water below. Four Rookie digimon were sitting on a raft of fish.

"Taichi, come on, now's not the time!" Yamato growled as he shook Taichi who just sat there crying silently.

"We're down to Imperialdramon-" Daisuke said, he narrowed his eyes and readjusted his goggles on his forehead. He looked over to Ken and extended his hand. Ken reached out and grasped it. Daisuke nodded. "We can do this! Give him everything you've got, Imperialdramon, full blast!"

The dragon shot high up into the sky. It looked down at Armageddemon and its chest armor opened. A large tesla coil unfurled from Imperialdramon's chest. The coil charged.

"Giga Death!" Imperialdramon roared as the coil discharged. A bolt of energy seared through the air and exploded into Armageddemon.

Daisuke and Ken turned their heads away as the bay erupted into blinding light. The glow burned through their eyelids. Daisuke lifted his hand over his eyes and cautiously opened them. Steam rolled up from the water's surface. In the steam he could see the shadow of the monster. It had survived.

"Destiny Destroyer." The monster replied casually.

Daisuke watched the cinder fly up. It exploded into Imperialdramon's chest. The dragon was enveloped into the inferno and when the blaze of orange had faded it revealed the dragon hanging limply in the air with tattered smoking wings and armor. Daisuke took a weak step forward, his hand slipped from Ken's and he took another step forward. His hand fumbled as it grabbed the chain that fenced off the causeway.

"No…not like this…" Daisuke said, he turned and looked to Taichi. The older boy was still sitting his head buried in his hands. Daisuke swallowed and looked up at Imperialdramon. "It can't be like this…"

"Taichi, please-" Daisuke looked over to see Sora kneeling in front of Taichi. The auburn-haired girl reached out and gently stroked his head. "You can't give up now, not like this, please. We have never given up before…"

Taichi's head slowly lifted. Sora and Taichi's eyes met. The boy looked over to Yamato. The blonde had his arms crossed over his chest.

"All those people, they are depending on us." Mimi said, looking down at Taichi.

"Depending us not to quit." Jyou said as he adjusted his glasses.

"To figure this out." Koushiro said.

"We are the only hope they have." Takeru said, as the younger boy walked up, an unconscious Patamon in his arms.

"We have to fight back." Hikari said holding Salamon in her arms. "Whatever darkness has come we have to stand against it. All the way to the end."

Taichi looked up at Yamato. The blonde's arms were still crossed, but then he sighed and leaned down and hugged Taichi.

"Only enough…strength left for one thing-" Omegamon gasped loudly. The kids looked up as the knight rose weakly to its feet. "Have to help Imperialdramon-"

The knight's body glowed bright white flaring to life and then in a flash disappearing. Two tiny forms dropped splashing into the bay. A ring of light twisted up to Imperialdramon.

"Marching fishes, go get Agumon and Gabumon!" Gomamon's voice was heard instructing a raft of fish.

Daisuke narrowed his eyes as the ring of light twisted in front of Imperialdramon. Daisuke remembered the last time this happened, he clenched his fist.

"Grab the ring! It's got all of Omegamon's power!" shouted Daisuke loudly.

"It will allow you to beat Armageddemon!" Ken shouted, grabbing Daisuke's hand.

"You can do it, Imperialdramon! We believe in you!" Miyako shouted as she ran forward with Hawkmon in her arms.

"It's up to you now! We're all relying on you!" Iori shouted.

"You're our last hope!" Takeru called up.

"Take the ring before it's too late!" Hikari called up to the dragon.

As she shouted everyone heard it but no one was sure where it came from. The sound of one lone, long blast of a whistle. As the note screamed out across the bay the dragon snapped into wakefulness. It reached out and grabbed the ring. The transformation was nearly instantaneous. The tattered wings blazed with white feathers, the black, scuffed armor was bright white, even the bruised flesh of the blue dragon seemed to gleam with a freshness. The ring had extended into a hilt and a large broadsword.

Imperialdramon glared down at Armageddemon. He hefted the sword up into the sky and then came charging down. Armageddemon roared and fired blasts of energy up at the dragon who dipped and dove through the assault. The sword blazed with holy light.

"This is everyone's!" shouted Imperialdramon. The sword was plunged deep into Armageddemon's head. "Omega BLADE!"

The light from the sword burned into the flesh of Armageddemon. The light bust through the armor from the inside, leaking out in rays of gold. Armageddemon twitched but didn't squeal, didn't writhe. Half of its legs lifted half a step before freezing in place and then when Imperialdramon extracted the sword. Armageddemon burst into billions of Kuramon.

"The Kuramon!" Iori shouted. "We can't let them escape!"

"Figured that out!" Koushiro shouted. He had his laptop open. "Sending a message to all the digi-destined to point their digivices at Imperialdramon. I've linked a copy of my secured trash bin into them…"

"Would that even work?" Mimi asked, turning and looking at Koushiro.

"Umm, well, not really sure, I'm hoping this improvised upload program might do something with a little help from the digivices…" Koushiro said. "The idea was to delete them individually but I think we can do it all at once with Imperialdramon."

"You're…you're just making this up as you go along aren't you?" Jyou asked looking at Koushiro mildly terrified.

"It's a giant demonic water strider mixed with a lizard and a scorpion, it's not exactly something that's in the manual!" Koushiro blustered loudly. He glared at the others. "Digivices, Imperialdramon, hurry up!"

The kids blinked and then turned opening their phones. The screens flared to life and little beams flew up to the jewel in the hilt of Imperialdramon's sword. Light streamed from the other side of the bay and soon from all over the city. Lines of light arced from over the horizon from distant places far away.

Imperialdramon held the sword aloft as Kuramon swarmed around the dragon. There was a burst of light that washed outwards pulsed across the sky, turning the burgeoning dusk into a new dawn. The swarm of Kuramon disappeared into the blaze. Imperialdramon lowered his arm, the sword was gone. The dragon turned and started to fall towards the park. As it fell the glowing dragon split in two and Daisuke and Ken caught a very exhausted DemiVeemon and Minomon, just before they cratered into the ground.

"Is it over?" Sora asked.

"All Kuramon are now in the trash bin and-" Koushiro said with a flourish. "Fully deleted."

"We won!" Miyako cheered and jumped up and down.

"All those people though-" Taichi said looking up at the fractured Rainbow Bridge. "Because we got trapped, because we were overwhelmed…because we were sloppy…."

"We did what we could." Yamato said, grabbing Taichi on the shoulder.

"Not soon enough." Taichi said pulling away. He looked down as a raft of fish carrying Koromon and Tsunomon came towards them.

888

The raft of fish moved over to a stairway that led to the water's surface. The kids retrieved their drenched digimon. Gomamon thanked the fish and then hopped up the stairs to Jyou. The other older kids were already walking back towards where the UNIT headquarters were. Jyou watched as the rest of kids team were chatting near the stairs. Jyou looked over to Taichi.

"We did good, considering the lack of notice." Jyou suggested weakly.

"I lost it…" Taichi said looking back at Jyou. He started to walk away. "We got lucky this time."

"Big brother?" Jyou heard Hikari say he turned and saw her looking at Taichi. She went to walk with her brother when Daisuke ran to her and grabbed her into a big hug that twirled her around.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Daisuke said loudly.

"The same…" Hikari said but she kept looking towards Taichi. She looked to Daisuke. "Thank you, for holding down the fort, but I should go with Taichi." Hikari gave Daisuke a quick peck on the cheek the tan boy blushed brightly and was slightly numb, and with the distraction Hikari was running after Taichi.

"Still, where did Diaboromon or rather Armageddemon come from?" Ken said quietly as he walked up to the flustered Daisuke. "You can't just snap your fingers and create an Ultra…"

"And this Diaboromon was clever, too." Iori said, the little boy looked to Ken.

"You don't think he was acting on his own?" Miyako asked.

"Hard telling, but something is fishy about this." Ken said, narrowing his eyes.

"I'm sure Koushiro will have a long powerpoint presentation on it, in the morning." Jyou finally said, as he looked down at Gomamon. "Now we need to get home, and try and get some studying done. This whole evening's been wasted!"

888

The dark figure in the shape of Gennai stared at the screen. It sparked with static, but the figure didn't frown, rather it smiled. It sat forward slightly.

"Now, let us see where we are." The figure said and it reached forward and pressed a button. The screen went from static to dark. A sound came over the speakers, a hissing, wheezing sound, a rumbling sound. The figure narrowed his eyes. "Turn your head, let's see what we see."

The screen shifted a shadowed form was visible. a rising and lowering chest of a small human child. A shaft of moonlight fell over the child's face, he had blonde hair and a soft face. The screen shifted again. This time in the other direction. There was another bed in the room, another small human child, again with blonde hair. With the child, slept another creature was sleeping with the human child, a long-eared digimon with a single horn on its head, it looked like a rabbit or a small dog.

The figure smiled quietly as he put his fingertips together and sat back. "Come to me, small one, we have much work to do…."

 **8888**

 **AN: I know! Right! This thing is diabolical! Plans on plans boys! Long chapter, so it may take some time to get to the next one…but I'm getting a better handle on things! EXCITING! Comment, favorite, and follow, please it really does help sooo much and I love hearing from you guys! Also, and don't make me regret this, I have a tweety account as well…The Masked Ermine newtja84….but A: I'm not the most active on twitter, and B: I am super not twitter savvy, but hey, throw me a follow or tweets and stuff…I guess. Could be fun, right?**


	5. It Begets Terror

**It Begets Terror**

 **888**

"Today the mayor of Tokyo led a memorial to those fallen during the monster attack that destroyed the Rainbow Bridge-"

The radio continued with the story. Taichi however stuck his ear buds into his ears. It had been a month since Armageddemon. He looked out the window, in the very farthest edge of his view he could see the cranes that were rebuilding the Rainbow Bridge. He pulled the string on the blinds bringing them down. School was nearly intolerable. The other kids knew who he was, it was never a problem before but now, they would look at him, whisper behind his back. He swallowed as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists.

Fortunately, UNIT had seen fit to block all reporters, and fielded all media questions, or at least tried, periodically someone would get through but generally they didn't get far or didn't get far for long before someone took them away. For the moment Agumon and the others were staying in the UNIT compound, in Koushiro's laboratory. Over the course of the month UNIT had approved his research into the server program. Other digi-destined hadn't had it so easily. Many were being mobbed at school, bullied. Being a digi-destined became a bad thing, and if your digimon was in the Human World, the scrutiny had only gotten worse.

Taichi took a deep breath and pulled the ear buds out of his ears.

"-police are still looking for twelve year old Takako Namamora of Shinjuku." the reporter droned on. "She is known in the community as being a digi-destined, she was last seen at home preparing to go to bed with her monster partner, her parents later claimed that she was gone when they awoke the following morning. No sign of forced entry was reported her partner monster has not been located some have theor-"

Taichi shut the radio off. He pulled away from his desk and stood up and stretched. He turned and opened the door of his bedroom. There was a commotion going on in the living room. Taichi furrowed his brow. He walked into the living room to see Hikari leaping up and down.

"Big brother!" Hikari cheered as she ran up to him. She pushed an envelope into his face. "LOOK! It's from the magazine!"

"Wait the magazine?" Taichi blinked looking at the envelope. "Did they?"

"I haven't opened it!" Hikari said looking at the envelope. She frowned slightly. "I'm a little scared….what if…"

"Open it! Open it!" Taichi implored smiling. "The worst thing they can say is you didn't win, right?"

Hikari looked up at him and smiled. She nodded sharply and tore open the envelope. "Dear Ms. Yagami, it is our pleasure…OH TAICHI TAICHI!"

She grabbed him around the neck and hugged him tightly. He coughed as she nearly strangled him. She pulled away and looked at the letter.

"Well?" Taichi asked.

"I don't- I don't believe it!" Hikari sat down on one of the armchairs arms. "I won…I won the top prize! My photo won the top prize! I have to tell Ms. Tachikawa!"

Taichi smiled as Hikari leapt to her feet and scrambled for the telephone. Her hands shook as she tried to dial the number. Taichi remembered the day they'd taken the photo. It was on Odaiba Day of this year. They had gone with Daisuke and the other newer kids, and found the old trolley that had taken them home from the Digital World. Hikari had gotten a photo of all of them and the digimon sitting around it.

Taichi's cell phone range quietly and Taichi pulled it out of his hip pocket. The number was from Koushiro.

"Hey, Izzy." Taichi said as he walked towards his bedroom.

"You sound like you're in a good mood…" Koushiro yawned.

"Hikari's photo one the top prize from that magazine." Taichi explained as he closed the door to his room.

"Cool, the picture with us at the trolley? It deserved to win…" Koushiro said, yawning again.

"Is something up?" Taichi asked. "You haven't called me in a couple of weeks. You sound tired."

"Yeah, I've been working on some stuff here in the lab." Koushiro said. "Pulling all nighters…"

"So what's going on?" Taichi asked.

"I can't really talk about it over the phone, can you come over here?" Koushiro asked.

"Sure…I'll be over as soon as I can." Taichi said.

"I'll have someone pick you up." Koushiro replied.

"I can-"

"No. I'll have someone come pick you up." Koushiro said. "Bring Hikari with you, I think I'll need everyone for this."

"O-ok, sure whatever, Izzy." Taichi said. Koushiro said goodbye and then promptly hung up. Taichi furrowed his eyebrows and then shrugged.

888

Takako Namamora sniffled slightly as she looked up. It was dark wherever she was. She wasn't sure where she was or how long she'd been there, all she knew is she was alone and her D-3 was gone. She looked around her. She couldn't find Kotemon. She swallowed trying to remember how she'd gotten here, but her memories were fuzzy. She remembered waking up and seeing Kotemon staring blankly at the computer screen, and then she felt something, a wind, but that was impossible she didn't have a fan in her room. She closed her eyes, since they were of little use in the darkness. No, there had been a breeze a chilly, wind. She started and turned, and then….

Takako opened her eyes. A creature a monster had appeared at the side of her bed. She had tried to scream but the monster's paws had covered her mouth. She had tried to fight back but it was too strong and Kotemon simply watched as the creature had taken her towards the computer screen.

Then everything had gone dark, and it hadn't lightened up. Takako walked around, this had been the fourth of fifth time. Whatever room she was in it was large, but there was nothing in it. No bed, no chairs, just walls, she hadn't even felt a door. She stopped. She strained her ears into the dark. There was a sound of scraping.

"Hello?" Takako shouted, unsure. "Is-is anyone there?"

There was a rush of air, cold, and harsh. Takako lifted her arms to protect herself, preparing for a fight. Something was breathing in the dark. Suddenly two red eyes shown in the darkness.

"What are you? Who are you?" Takako shouted, trying to back away, her back came against a hard stony wall.

"Wa-lul-ace-" the creature growled.

"What?" Takako asked.

"Not Wa-lul-ace-" the creature growled.

"No, I'm not!" Takako shouted in confusion. There was slushing sound and footsteps.

"Who's there?" Takako growled, clenching her fists.

"Nobody-" the voice said, it sounded like a man's voice. "Nobody at all."

"Don't make me fight you!" Takako shouted.

"There's no need to fight." The voice said, and then a candle appeared. The glow of the light burned, and Takako winced. The bearer walked forward. He was a tall thin man, with spiky black hair that had a long trailing rat-tail in the back. His eyes were cold as ice. Takako looked over and saw the beast, the one that had kidnapped her. It had a small round head, with floppy, furry ears. It's body was wide at the shoulders, thin at the waist with bulging thighs, and weird bendy forearms. She looked back to see the man standing before her. He wore black robes. "I do hate fighting…it's so unnecessary, I've found."

"What are you some kind of pedophile? Only you use digimon?" Takako spat.

"No, I despise children, I despise all things." The man said with an incongruous smile. "I despise the pointless struggle you tiny, little, extant things put up, all the more so because of the futility of it all." He turned his head. "Come on out, let us begin-"

In the edge of the candlelight Takako saw a small form walk forward. She gulped quietly. It was Kotemon standing there staring up at the man in black robes with a blank stare.

"Kotemon!" Takako shouted. "What did you do to him?"

"Freed him, of course-" the man said looking back to Takako. "He suffers no more. Child, look deep into my eyes now, and see the truth…isn't it terrific."

Takako looked up at the man and he grabbed her face and looked into her eyes. She tried to struggle but the man's grip was very strong. She looked into his eyes. She hadn't a choice. Somehow, the steely blue of his eyes were engulf in darkness, no, not darkness, darkness implied light to define it, this was deeper than darkness, this was darkness beyond darkness this was, it was….

Takako slumped forward into the man's arms. The man curled a smile across his lips. He looked to Kotemon. The little digimon wearing kendo armor grew, morphed changed into a lithe swordsman with a mask and llama like ears. The man dropped Takako's body on the ground turned and left the cell, the two digimon following behind him.

888

"Is everyone here?" Koushiro asked as he looked over at the group of digi-destined and digimon in his office.

"I tried to get Jyou to come over-" Gomamon said as he looked at everyone, "but he said he was busy with school stuff."

"What's wrong with him?" Daisuke grumbled crossing his arms.

"It's fine." Taichi said as he leaned against the wall of the office. "We can always fill him in later."

"Right-" Koushiro said as he lifted a small remote. "As you guys know I scored an internship with the UNIT research office. I've been working here specifically on my project to develop a better way of allowing digimon to safely stay here."

"How's that going?" Ken asked as he looked up.

"Tricky-" Koushiro sighed. "It worked at first, but now, I can't get the biofilter to function right. Some of our digimon are fine getting into the server space but others…"

"We just keep bouncing off." Agumon said lifting his clawed hand.

"I've gone through a dozen computer monitors…" Koushiro shook his head.

"Is it a coding issue? The digimon typing?" Ken said.

"No, no, I think the filter matrix is just glitching from usage." Koushiro growled, looking at the computer screen. He shook his head. "But that's not why I asked you here…"

"Then what's the problem?" Yamato asked, as he sat back in his chair and crossed his legs.

"I've been secretly monitoring the Digital World and the internet since our visit from Diaboromon last month." Koushiro said, as he clicked the remote. The screen behind him flared to life showing two worlds hovering next to each other. "I've noted an increase of activity in the digi-port network these last few weeks."

"Lots of kids have been sending their digimon back to the Digital World due to pressure from others." Iori said looking around. "A lot of kids' parents don't want digimon in the house."

"I thought that too, but the transfers aren't from our world to the Digital World, it's the Digital World to our world." Koushiro said clicking the remote. Blue and red lines blinked in and out between the worlds. "These lines represent the activity across the barrier, red is for transmissions from the Digital World, blue is to the Digital World…"

It looked like a fireworks display, millions of tiny flashes of red followed quickly by flashes of blue. The lines went everywhere across the world.

"Is there a pattern?" Miyako asked as she adjusted her glasses and sat forward.

"No, not precisely, not until I started digging anyways…" Koushiro said, he clicked the remote. The screen blinked and revealed news clippings. "I'm not sure if you guys have heard, but there's been a rash of kidnappings, or alleged kidnappings going on…"

"Yeah-" Yamato sat up. "My dad was talking about it. Cops still don't know if its kidnapping or if the kids are running away, not much has been said…"

"The authorities probably don't want to start a panic." Ken said, crossing his arms.

"The first one in Japan started about two days after Armageddemon bio-emerged." Koushiro said, clicking the remote. "It was a boy, his name was Haru Shinkai, parents saw him go into his bedroom to go to sleep, the next morning he was gone, no sign of forced entry, no evidence that Haru planned to leave, all of his clothes and belongings were there, his digimon partner was gone."

"So are we thinking that it was…what?" Mimi asked, she looked at the others and the others looked to Ken.

Ken's crossed arms tightened. "It's possible, but even so you'd have thought he'd taken stuff with him."

"What's possible?" Mimi scratched her head.

"When Ichijouji was…umm-" Sora blushed slightly.

"As the Digimon Emperor I ran away from home, to live in the Digital World." Ken said, he took a deep breath, "but I had prepared for a long time. I had supplies, I had an empire…"

"There's no evidence that Haru ever went to the Digital World…furthermore his D-3 was still in his bed room." Koushiro said looking up at the screen. "Nothing from his social media suggests he'd ever been to the Digital World…and nothing to suggest that the computer he had even had a Digital Port program installed on it."

"You think this is some kind of new Digimon Emperor thing?" Daisuke sat forward looking at the screen.

"No, because Shinkai was only the beginning-" Koushiro clicked the remote. The news clippings changed to something new. "A week later two disappear, a week after that three…and more importantly it isn't restricted to Japan, this is happening all over the place. The kids' belongings left behind, including their digivice or D-3, and their partners are gone."

"You think it's the Digital World?" Hikari said, clutching Salamon in her arms.

"I'm not sure, there's no pattern, some of the kids it should've been impossible they don't live near a gate or have portal program installed in their computer…" Koushiro said, frowning. "I am however sure that they are getting taken from their beds, at night…I just don't know how. The only thing that connects all of the disappearances are the fact that they are digi-destined."

"Has anyone disappeared that we know of?" Iori asked.

"Not, exactly-" Koushiro said as he sat down. "I'm not sure…"

"What do you mean?" Taichi asked pushing off from the wall of the office.

"Well, it's an aberration…" Koushiro said quietly.

"What's an aberration?" Yamato looked back to Taichi and then to Koushiro.

"You guys remember those twins from America…?" Koushiro asked.

"Willis and Wallace!" Mimi said. "I loved them; they were really neat!"

"Yeah, well, one of their partners disappeared-" Koushiro said. "Specifically Wallace's partner Lopmon the night that Armageddemon attacked." Koushiro took a deep breath. "Wallace was helping me do some research on the server program, when the Kuramon attacked, the biofilter matrix glitched Lopmon had gotten trapped, it took me off guard, I had to dismantle the biofilter to get Lopmon free…"

"Yeesh, poor little thing must have been terrified." Mimi said, looking at Koushiro.

"Wallace said he looked fine-" Koushiro replied. "But all of a sudden that night, while Wallace and Willis were sleeping, he disappeared. No word on where he went. No one has heard from him since."

"And these disappearances…." Iori narrowed his eyes.

"Started days later…" Koushiro said, he turned and looked up at the screen. "It could just be coincidence, and there's no reason to believe that Lopmon would be able to or would want to do this sort of thing…"

"Is there anything going on in the Digital World?" Ken asked.

"I don't know." Koushiro shook his head. "I've been trying to talk to Gennai for a month now, and getting nowhere, he's completely silent."

"He does disappear for long stretches of time-" Yamato said, he frowned slightly.

"Usually when we need him the most." Takeru said, looking to his older brother.

"Not like this, before a month ago he'd been fairly chatty helping with the barrier maintenance-" Koushiro said looking at the others. "Then about a week before Armageddemon happened it went all silent."

"Maybe he's on vacation?" Veemon said the little blue dragon looked at everyone hopefully.

"One hell of a time to take a holiday-" Daisuke grumbled.

"So what are we actually supposed to do?" Sora finally said after a few minutes of silence. "I mean we can't be in every kids' bedroom waiting for whatever is happening to happen…"

"We have to do something now," Taichi said, slapping his fist into the palm of his hand. "If we wait too long, or something people could be hurt, or worse."

"But what do we do?" Ken asked. "It's not like there's anything we can punch or blow up…if we let this get out it will only spread more panic, and the public are already a little iffy about digimon-"

"Whatever is going on it's coming from the Digital World." Taichi said as he walked forward. "Then we go to the Digital World. We find Gennai…we get to the bottom of this!"

"The Digital World is huge-" Iori said looking over to Taichi. "We could search for weeks and not find anyone…"

"And if Gennai is purposely not wanting to be found it could be even worse." Salamon said looking up from Hikari's arms, "There are secret places that only Gennai would know about…"

"Then more reason to start looking. We can split up!" Taichi said looking to the others. "Into two teams. Start at the obvious places, Gennai's lake house, File Island…someone has to know something."

"Ok- say we do this." Hikari said with a great deal of trepidation. "When we find out whatever this is, what do we do about it?"

"We stop it." Yamato said standing up. "One way or another."

The other kids looked up at Yamato. The blonde looked back at them with steely blue eyes.

Taichi nodded. "That's my decision then, let's find this thing-"

"Can it wait though, just tonight?" Miyako asked. Taichi furrowed his brow and looked at her. Miyako winced. "It's just, I'm supposed to watch the shop tonight…"

"Fine, tomorrow then..." Taichi said, he looked to everyone in the room for dissent and when none came he nodded.

"I'll call Jyou then-" Koushiro said, as he looked at everyone.

"He's not going to like this." Gomamon said as everyone started filing out of the room and Koushiro returned to his computer terminal.

"Lately he hasn't liked much of anything!" Tentomon buzzed.

"It's school and his family, and well…" Gomamon blushed. "This girl-"

All the children stopped and spun around agog. All of them in tandem shouted. "A GIRL!? JYOU!?"

"Oops-" Gomamon said then he started to panic. "Please don't say anything, I promised I wouldn't tell anyone! He hasn't told anyone about her!"

"Have you seen her?" Yamato said walking forward, turning a chair backwards and sitting on it with his head on his arms as they braced against the chair back.

"Umm, no, not really, she's not from the area, they talk online-" Gomamon said, tentatively.

"Are you sure-" Yamato said lifting his head and putting his hands together and pointing his two index fingers forward. "Are you very sure she's real?"

"Matt…" groaned Sora.

"It's Jyou, it's a valid question!" Yamato responded.

"I mean, he's not, unattractive-" Mimi said as she tapped her chin.

"Mimi?" Miyako asked.

"Oh, he's far too oblivious for someone like me but maybe…maybe I don't know…I'm just saying." Mimi said waving her hands trying to dismiss the assumption. She blinked. "I wonder who she is?"

"Just don't mention it!" Sora said, grabbing Yamato and hauling him to his feet. She looked to Mimi. "Don't ask questions, just forget it! Gomamon made a promise we're going to help him keep it!"

"Right-" Koushiro said turning back to the monitors. "I'll see you guys tomorrow."

The kids nodded to one another waved to their digimon partners and then filed out of the room.

888

Wallace walked slowly down the street. The same streets he walked with Lopmon after school. Further ahead Willis was walking with Terriermon, laughing and giggling as they joked and talked. He looked at the pavement below his feet, gray and cracked. He hiked his backpack onto his back and swallowed back as a few drops of water fell onto the pavement.

Why did Lopmon have to leave? Why didn't he say where he was going? Did I do something wrong? Wallace came to a stop. He looked up to the storefront he was in front of, an electronics store, the window was filled with television displays. The TVs were shut off. Wallace could make out his reflection in the darkness of the TV screens. A cold breeze swirled around him, Wallace hugged himself, wincing as the wind swept across his face. He opened eyes, and looked up, and saw a second reflection in the television screen.

"Wa-lul-ace-" growled a voice, as a wide mad smile curled into existence as a pair of eyes shined red.

 **888**

 **AN: This one just blazed out didn't it!? Don't expect this pace to stay in place though…Anyone picking up what I'm putting down with this 'evil' Gennai?**


	6. A Shadow Falls Long

**A Shadow Falls Long**

 **888**

Wallace staggered backward. The wind was cold around him and he fell and his bottom bounced and he looked down to see his butt sitting on a plush brick. He looked up the shadow of the monster was standing above him. Wallace slid slightly backward.

The beast slowly reached forward with its massive paws. "Wa-lul-ace…"

Wallace's blue eyes narrowed. "That's…my name-"

"Wa-lul-ace!" the beast crowed as he lifted his round head and his floppy ears flapped back and forth.

"Is…is it you?" Wallace asked as he stood up. He slowly reached forward. "Lop-mon?"

"So that's where you went?" a voice rang out from above Wallace. Wallace spun around to see a man standing on one of the towers of blocks. He wore black robes, his arms were folded behind his back. The man's icy eyes glared down. "I didn't tell you to get another one." The man leapt landing astutely on the bouncy ground the long ponytail landed over his shoulder. He walked forward, glaring down at Wallace. "Ah I see, so you retrieved this one then?"

"What did you do to Lopmon?" Wallace growled glaring up at the man.

"The digimon was introduced to a virus a mutation occurred-" The man said as he walked closer.

"The Kuramon-" Wallace said as he turned and looked back to the monster. The beast was looking down at him like a massive puppy.

"The virus of course freed the digimon from the deepest evil there could be." The man said as he lifted a hand. "Now it is no longer suffering." The man stood before Wallace and looked down at him. Wallace gulped slightly. "Now, let's free you, dear little human!"

"N-O!" the monster behind Wallace growled. A massive forearm smashed down between Wallace and the man. The man growled and took a step back. "Wa-lul-ace - MINE!"

"I see-" the man said quietly. He narrowed his cold eyes. "Somehow there's still a little fragment of attachment inside of you, hmm? Some residual-"

"Lopmon, are you still in there?" Wallace said looking up at the monster, his eyes tearing up as he looked up at the beast. "You can fight it! I know you can!" Wallace fished the D-3 out of his pants' pocket. "See, remember, it's me Wallace! You have to fight it!"

"You cannot resist." The man growled to the monster. He glared at the beast. "You know better than anyone, what you are, what this is. You know there's no winning, there's no losing, there's no fighting. You know that this foolish display is futile…be calm!"

Wallace yelped as he was grabbed up in the creature's massive paw and the monster leapt away from the man. Soon enough they were standing on a high tower. The man was standing down on the ground staring at them. He lifted his hand, a finger pressed against his thumb. The crack of the finger snap echoed through the village of plush toys. Almost instantaneously two digimon appeared at the beast's sides. One some kind of llama with kendo swords, the other a star shaped digimon. The two launched themselves at Wallace and the beast. Wallace was again grabbed by the beast, a wind so cold and pure burned across him and the next thing he knew he was on the ground and the beast was roaring loudly as two more digimon rushed him, one was a Monochromon the other Coelamon. The beast's heavy arms whipped forward extending, grabbing the two digimon and lifting them into the air, smashing them together and tossing them away. Balls of fire exploded downwards and Wallace looked up to see a murky crimson man composed of flames tossing fire at them. The beast shielded Wallace and lifted its head opening its maw and belching black blast of energy up to the Meramon. A zebra charged them with a sparking horn. The beast snarled and slapped the horned equine away.

"Lopmon, are you ok?" Wallace asked looking up at the creature.

"Wa-lul-ace, mine-mine, WALULACE MINE!" the monster roared loudly. Wallace covered his ears from the volume as the monster roared almost as if in a tantrum.

Pteramon and Airdramon roared from on high. The beast howled and leapt into the air, grabbing the flying digimon and tossing them angrily to the ground. The monster then came roaring to the ground smashing down in front of the man in black robes. The beast glared at the man and roared loudly in the man's face. The beast clenched a massive fist and swung. Wallace blinked, the man stepped aside of the fist and forward, forcefully putting his palm on the beast's head.

"Enough of this." The man said calmly.

The monster whined loudly as something dark an powerful swarmed over him, covering the beast before disappearing. The monster seemed to slump slightly forward as the man looked straight into the beast's eyes. The beast turned looking at Wallace. Wallace gulped and in the swallowing the beast materialized in front of him. Wallace turned to run but the paw of the monster had him by the waist and was lifting him up.

"Lopmon! Lopmon! Help! Please! Stop this!" Wallace screamed as he struggled in the monster's hand. "You have to fight it! It's me! It's Wallace!"

The monster trudged slowly, silently towards the man in black. The monster lowered Wallace to the man's eye-level. The man looked at Wallace and then to the D-3.

"Could it be? We never took the devices…" The man said. "We simply took the children, but once they were ours it was simple, could it be that this is what led my dear friend astray…"

"Lopmon's not your friend, you've done something to him!" Wallace shouted, he looked up at the beast. "Lopmon, please! Help, you did it before, fight it!"

"Silence, you mewling cancer." The man growled, he grabbed Wallace by the front of his shirt and Wallace was yanked forward and looked at the man. The man took a deep breath. "There is nothing left, no more to fight, the digimon is free, it is one with me, and you will be, too. Now look deep into my eyes-"

"GARGO LASER!" shouted the familiar voice of Gargomon.

The man released Wallace and leapt backward as pellets of green energy strafed the ground between Wallace and the man. The rabbit in jeans rushed forward and leapt spinning and landing a kick on the beast. The monster staggered backward and in doing so released Wallace from its grip. Wallace was caught as he fell and looked up to see his own face, or rather the face of his twin.

"Willis!" Wallace said quickly.

"Are you ok?" Willis said as he looked up. Gargomon was firing on the monster.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Wallace said as he looked up. "But-it's Lopmon-"

"Lopmon?" Willis said as he looked at the monster. "You mean that thing?"

"I think it's him!" Wallace said sharply. "He got transformed by that guy and those Kuramon…"

There was a loud smashing as the beast drove Gargomon crashing through a tower of plush blocks. Gargomon exploded out of the pile of blocks and landed in front of the twins.

"He's stronger than he should be!" Gargomon grumbled as he looked up at the beast as it weaved back and forth towards them, its arms dangling limply in front of him, its tongue lolling as it tilted its head left then right. Gargomon lifted his left arm, the machine gun clicked.

"Take them, take them both!" the man in black robes shouted. The boys looked back to see the man lift his arm and snap his fingers. The digimon from before that were lying beaten on the ground rose to their feet. The llama swordsman and the star leapt to the man's side.

"Right, this isn't looking good." Willis said looking around him.

"I can't fight them all." Gargomon said frantically pointing his gun arm at the gang of digimon, vaguely centering his attention on the beast that was lolling towards them.

Wallace looked at the monster. "Please, Lopmon you have to snap out of it!"

"WA-LUL-ACE!" the monster roared. "Get Wa-lul-ace!"

The gang of digimon charged the twins. Wallace felt his arm jerk as he was pulled. Willis was pulling him along. Gargomon opened fire blowing a hole in the ranks that Willis rushed through in the chaos. Gargomon leapt over the Monochromon, using its frill as a push off and sailed over the monster's head. The rabbit then ran after Willis and Wallace.

"There's a digi-port nearby!" Willis shouted, as he pulled Wallace. "We can use it to get home!"

"But it's Lopmon!" shouted Wallace.

"No it isn't, not anymore!" shouted Willis as they pushed through underbrush. "Whatever that thing is, it's only trying to hurt you!"

"No, he tried to protect me!" Wallace cried as they emerged into an opening. Wallace pulled free of Willis. "Lopmon tried to fight it, we have to try and get him back!"

"We don't have to try and get him back, he's coming right for us!" Gargomon yelped as the rabbit burst into the clearing turning and firing back in the direction he'd come.

"We don't have time for this!" Willis shouted lifting his D-3 to the computer monitor lying haphazardly on the ground. "Digi-port open!"

The light flooded around Wallace, Willis was already diving into the screen, Gargomon was right behind him. Willis turned and leapt for the screen; he was nearly there and then the massive paw of the monster caught him by the ankle. Wallace was yanked upward dangling from the noodly arm of the monster as it looked up at him with a most uncanny smile. The light from the port faded as the monster's arm retracted and Wallace was brought in close.

"Good work-" The forest seemed to part as the man walked into the clearing. Wallace struggled in the monster's grip and as he did his D-3 fell from his pants' pocket, falling to the ground. The man walked forward and picked it up. He turned to the beast. "Come now, then, let us show our guest to his friends…"

888

"No, Willis, calm down!" Koushiro said into the phone. He held out the phone as a burst of broken Japanese shouted from the speaker. It was interspersed with English that Koushiro could only assume wasn't polite. Koushiro looked up and saw the others walk into his office. The older kids looked around for their partners as the younger kids had theirs in their arms, some of the younger kids' digimon seemed to have difficulty getting into the server such that only DemiVeemon and Minomon were still in the server, so he had sent the other younger kids' digimon home with the kids, only Agumon and Gabumon had a similar issue from the older kids and Taichi and Yamato had opted to leave them with Koushiro. He swallowed as he listened to the phone. Koushiro took a deep breath. "Willis, we'll find him, we'll get him back, we're going over now…"

Koushiro hung the phone up and slumped into his chair.

"What's going on?" Yamato asked as he walked forward.

"Wallace, they came for him." Koushiro said.

"Oh no…" Mimi gasped.

"Willis went after him on his own, Wallace apparently developed some kind of D-3 tracer program to follow D-3 signals through to the Digital World…" Koushiro said as he held his head in his hands. He slowly shook his head. "I don't think I quite believe it."

"What?" Taichi said the brunette walked forward.

"If what he said is true." Koushiro looked up at Taichi. "I think, Gennai might be behind this…"

"Wait, Gennai, like Jedi knight, Obi-wan Kenobi Gennai?" Daisuke said as he looked at the older kids.

"He has to be mistaken, right?" Iori said as he sat down, Upamon rested at his feet.

"I thought Gennai was one of the good guys?" Miyako said, as she looked down at Poyomon who had come in with her.

"He is!" Koushiro said fervently. He took a deep breath. "but-"

"But what?" Yamato asked crossing his arms.

"It just would fit…" Koushiro said as he looked up. "The silence and everything."

"But would it be this sudden?" Sora said the auburn haired girl looked at everyone else. "You said he was very chatty until recently…"

"It's hard telling, Gennai has always been…" Koushiro looked up and waggled his hand in the air.

"He has a past of having plans that he doesn't let us in on." Ken said the lavender haired boy looked to the computer monitors that filled the office. "And the Digital World's modus operandi has been to kidnap kids with no warning…"

"Not like this…" Everyone turned to see Jyou walking forward.

"You came after all." Mimi cheered.

"I didn't have a choice once this one bounced out of my dad's work computer." Jyou said pointing to Gomamon hopping at his side. He turned his attention to the screens. "From what I can gather from the papers, and the news, this doesn't feel like the Digital World…something about it feels more sinister than that."

"I don't know, the Digital World kind of snagged us at camp…out of the blue." Taichi said.

"Yeah but we were given the choice…" Sora said. "The digivices may have chose us, but we chose to grab the digivices…"

"And we were at school." Miyako said.

"But again, we chose to take the D-3s…" Iori said.

"And I was at my bedroom when it came for me…kinda like these kids…" Ken said as he lifted his black D-3. "But it was ultimately my choice to go…"

"Yeah but that was the Dark Ocean and it wanted to turn you evil!" Mimi said in a cheery voice.

The other kids looked at Mimi like she had stabbed someone. Ken tightened his grip on the D-3.

"I think that may have been his point, Mimi…" Koushiro said quietly.

"I agree with Jyou-" Hikari said walking forward Salamon was resting in her arms. "This feels…cold in a way that the Digital World just isn't…"

"Nor does this feel like the Dark Ocean-" Ken said narrowing his eyes. "I don't know why I feel that way but it just doesn't feel like that kind of thing, I was lured, these kids I can almost be assured were taken."

"Either way, it sounds like we're not just going in to find Gennai, it sounds like this may be a rescue mission." Takeru said, looking to the others, he held Tokomon in his arms. "Any ideas?"

"Well, Willis has been tracking the D-3 signature since he returned." Koushiro said as he turned. A map blinked onto one of the monitors. "Willis found his brother on File Island…and now the D-3 is all the way over here…"

"That's halfway across the world!" Iori gasped looking at the screen.

"On the Continent of Server…" Jyou said adjusting his glasses.

"That's near where Myotismon's castle was…" Sora said looking at the map. The others shivered.

"It was Gennai's people's castle first, Myotismon just took up residence when the Order was disbanded-" Koushiro said looking back.

"Disbanded? You mean slaughtered right?" Yamato said, frowning, before Sora jabbed him in the ribs with an elbow.

"So we go to the castle!" Daisuke said as he pulled out his D-3.

"Wait!" Koushiro said sharply. "Undoubtedly they've worked out that Willis tracked the D-3…"

"Oh…" Daisuke said.

"So the D-3 signal could be a trap." Iori said, narrowing his eyes.

"Quite possibly." Koushiro said quietly.

"Doesn't change anything." Daisuke said finally. He looked over at the others. "That's the only lead we've got; right?"

"Hold up…" Taichi said, putting his hand on Daisuke's short brown hair. "Maybe we shouldn't go in all guns blazing…" Taichi looked to the others. "Us older kids, we'll go, if things get iffy, we'll send an SOS or something, then you guys come in…"

"But…" Daisuke started.

"He's right, if we all go in, and things go south, there won't be anyone who would know where to look…" Ken said looking at Daisuke, putting his hand on Daisuke's shoulder.

"Right then…" Yamato said as he looked at the younger digi-destined. His eyes met Takeru's. "Hopefully we won't need you, but if we do…then…well…I trust you to come for us."

"I've got a position for us to meet up with our partners. Earlier I sent Agumon and Gabumon in to scout out stuff for our planned expedition, so they are already there." Koushiro said, turning to the screens. "Ken, it's up to you to get the rest of our partners to that location. Biyomon, Tentomon and Palmon are in the server with Minomon and DemiVeemon. The program's designed to be idiot proof…Daisuke could use it…so I think you should be more than capable…"

"HEY!" Daisuke yelled.

"He's not wrong…" Takeru giggled slightly. "Last time you tried to play solitaire on your computer you nearly deleted the entire operating system…"

Koushiro turned and opened the files for the Digital Port program. Taichi pushed forward and lifted his D-3. Koushiro took a deep breath and the light blazed from the screen as the portal opened.

888

The children stood up and walked forward into the clearing. Taichi looked around and frowned.

"What happened to this place?" Sora asked as she walked to the edge what had been a lake. The water was gone, replaced by a thick ooze of black sludge. The surrounding shoreline was brown with dead grass and rotting flowers, the brown was spreading from the center.

"Then we can confirm, something bad is going on with Gennai…" Jyou said as he knelt down next to the lake. "I mean this was the lake with the house."

"Is it possible, could Gennai have turned bad?" Yamato asked.

"Or has something got to him?" Mimi asked looking up at the sky. She hugged her shoulders. The sky was gray and dismal looking. "Is it me or does it feel…"

"Cold-" Taichi said looking around.

"Tai!" came a delightful voice. Taichi turned to see Agumon running towards him arms open. The little dinosaur leapt up and hugged Taichi. Taichi staggered backward as the dinosaur hugged him.

Yamato was soon in a similar condition. The digi-port flared to life and soon Mimi, Koushiro and Sora were equally afflicted. Jyou was still kneeling next to the lake, Gomamon was at his side, staring at the ooze. Jyou slowly and gently lifted his hand and put it on Gomamon's head.

"But he was building a dam…" Gomamon said looking up at Jyou.

"I know, buddy…" Jyou said.

"I told him to get out of here, told him it was silly to dam up a lake…he should've found a stream…" Gomamon started to blubber. "Jim, you dummy! Why didn't you go somewhere that needed a dam!?"

Jyou hugged Gomamon as the little seal cried into his chest.

"We searched out the area, but we didn't find anything." Gabumon said, he looked around. "No sign of a fight or a struggle, just…this."

"It's like someone or something is sucking the life out of the Digital World." Koushiro said as he knelt down and pulled at the brown grass. The torn grass sparkled and fizzled into a black and white static before melting into brown goo that slipped through Koushiro's hand.

"EWW!" Mimi yelped watching as Koushiro looked in horror at his hand.

"What could cause this?" Jyou asked as he looked up. "Where's Gennai?"

"Who knows…" Koushiro said, frowning. He took out his D-3. He stood and pointed into the forest. "Wallace's signal is this way…"

888

Wallace walked slowly forward. To his side was the man in the dark robes. Behind him the group of digimon that had helped apprehend him, foremost of them the beast that had been Lopmon. They had arrived at a castle, old, thick brick walls. Towers and flying buttresses reaching into the sky on the outside on the inside, dust, spider webs, shadows.

"This was at one time the hub of the Digital World…" The man said as he pushed open a pair of heavy rout iron doors. That swung open with the sickening whine of rust and age. "This place connected this world to all the others…every corner of creation attainable from this room." The man stopped as he turned to Wallace. The gloom from the outside bled into high windows barely showing the man's face. "In the wrong hands, this room could be the most dangerous place in all of Digital World."

The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Suddenly torches flashed to life ringing the room with the shafts of wavering firelight. Wallace gasped slightly as he looked around him. The room was populated by children. They were standing heads bowed, eyes closed. Wallace ran up to one, a boy, he recognized him from a year ago.

"Simon!" Wallace said grabbing the boy and shaking him by the shoulders but the boy didn't rouse, didn't respond. He continued to limply stand as if in some stupor. Wallace spun around. "What did you do?"

"I have done nothing." The man said as he walked past Wallace, towards a podium in the middle of the room, a huge door framing him as he walked towards it. "Nothing has been done to these children. The man stood at the podium and laid his hands on its surface. "All that has happened is a change of perspective. They have seen the truth…and it was terrific."

"Release them!" Wallace shouted. "Give everyone back!"

"More of this, this…aggression." The man sighed quietly. The man took a deep breath and then looked up. "I will never understand this, but fine, if you wish…"

The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Almost instantaneously the children dropped to their knees. Each and every one of them, crying, bawling, screaming. Their hands grabbing the sides of their heads, or their stomachs. Some fell over, sobbing in terror and fear and grief.

"What…?" Wallace turned looking at them. He dropped down next to Simon. The boy was dark haired, was wearing a red shirt, Wallace knew him from a year ago, they had repelled dragons from the city hall of Salt Lake City, protecting a camp of refugees. Simon had then been sent off with the refugees to escape to the north. They'd lost touch but Wallace always remembered him. He reached out to the boy. "Simon, what's wrong?"

"Please…please…stop it! STOP IT!" Simon cried almost thrashing under Wallace's touch. The boy grabbed his head and buried his face into the ground. "LET ME GO BACK!"

"Stop what?" Wallace asked in confusion. Wallace shook his head. "Go where?"

"Stop the suffering…" The man said, walking from the podium, towards Wallace. The man looked sadly to the children as they thrashed. "To return to the state of peace and silence…"

Wallace looked up at the man and stood to his feet clenching his fists. "What did you do?"

"I did nothing but show them the truth, and that gave them peace and quiet." the man said. He swept his hand out to the children. "Listen to them, listen to the pain, to the aching, the fear, the rage and the suffering, what you ask of me is to continue that. This is what you asked for…will you allow it to continue?"

Wallace turned and looked around him, to the children listening to them crying in pain and suffering. Wallace narrowed his eyes. "Put them back…to the way they were when we came in…."

The man nodded slightly and snapped his fingers. The children's screaming ceased, they calmed and within seconds they were standing again, in limp silence.

"See, isn't that much better?" The man asked as he looked at the children in peace. "All I am doing is giving out truth and offering endless peace. Yet you would interfere…Digimon, humans, all things, constantly suffer. Constantly under stress, in pain, pain you don't even recognize you are so used to it…that you become numb to its existence; you have to become numb to it, lest it turn you mad from the constant bombardment. Each existence is nothing but suffering, from a pebble to a person…you delude yourselves into such nightmares of existence…"

"And I suppose you have an answer for it?" Wallace growled, glaring at the man.

"No, my dear boy, I am the answer for it." The man said as he took a step forward reaching towards Wallace. "Let me share the truth with you, it won't hurt…"

"You stay the hell away from me!" Wallace shouted taking a step back.

"Lopmon, yes, that's what you called it." The man said as he looked up. A breath of wind later the beast was standing behind him. "Its sorrow is because of you, just like all these other digimon."

"What are you talking about?" Wallace growled.

"I can hear it, even now, even though it knows the truth it strives and hungers to be with you." The man said, looking up at the creature. "All of its desire is to be at your side, to see you safe. It knows your pain, your suffering, your strife….it is horribly pained by it."

"Lop-mon…" Wallace looked up at the creature.

"I can rejoin you with Lopmon, I can end that pain, I can end it all…" The man said, as he looked down at Wallace. "All you have to do is look into my eyes…"

"No, it's a con, Lopmon!" Wallace shouted.

"No, it is not." The man said calmly, quietly. "You saw it with your own eyes. I do not lie, I bring only truth…"

Wallace turned looking at the children peaceful in whatever stupor they were in. Their digimon likewise calm. Even the beast looked calm, if pained as it looked at him.

"You can help me, Wallace." The man said. "Just like all the children. You can help bring everyone to the truth, it can start with you. All you have to do is look into my eyes and accept the truth…"

Wallace gulped and looked up at the beast. It seemed to reach out towards him, as if beckoning him forward. Deep in his heart, Wallace missed Lopmon. He looked at the man, he took a step forward.

"You can reunite me with Lopmon?" Wallace asked.

"Yes, I can bring you closer in a way you have never been before." The man said quietly, reaching out. Wallace reached out and took his hand. The man smiled. "Now, look into my eyes…and see the truth…"

Wallace looked. The man's eyes were dark, and then they were darker. Wallace felt the wave of it wash over him, no, not him…not…anything in his head he knew he knew…There was a jolt. Wallace staggered falling to the ground. He turned his head.

The heavy doors they had gone through blew off their hinges as a tyrannosaur with a horned face mask belched fire. Between its legs six teenagers were running. Behind the dinosaur was a blue tiger-striped wolf, a walking cactus, a white walrus, a blue rhinoceros beetle. A flaming bird rose up filling the ceiling. Wallace spun turning to the man, a wry grin played on his face.

"Wallace!" he heard a girl shout and before he could react he was deep into Mimi's chest, blushing bright red.

"Are you ok?" Koushiro was asking but Wallace was still in a daze as the other boys that stormed in marched towards the man. Koushiro looked up. "It is Gennai…why?"

"These other kids, look ok, physically speaking…but…" the oldest boy was looking at the other kids, "but they aren't ok, I mean they aren't normal…"

"What the hell, Gennai?" The older blonde boy shouted.

The man turned to the newcomers. He folded his arms behind his back as the beast that was Lopmon growled menacingly. Wallace soon became aware that other digimon were now in the room. The kidnapped kids' digimon had evolved.

"I am not Gennai." The man said quietly. "Though I can see where you would be mistaken, I am…borrowing Gennai for the moment."

"Then who are you?" Koushiro asked standing up, and looking to the man.

"It doesn't matter." the brunette with the goggles slung around his neck said. "You're going to give up the kids, you're going to return the digimon, you're going to leave Gennai, and you're going to stop whatever plan you are working on and go away!"

"I see." The man said turning and staring down the brunette's glare. The man's dark eyes sliced over to Wallace. "Am I? And if I don't?"

"We'll make you." The brunette said.

"Tai…" The auburn haired girl said looking over at him.

"I was in the process of sending the children back to the human world when you smashed in on us." The man said turning from Tai and walking towards the podium. "If you would've only been patient…"

"Don't…" Wallace said as he slowly got to his feet. He could still half remember everything when he stared into the man's…no, he wasn't a man, into its eyes. The other digi-destined looked to Wallace as he staggered to his feet. "They're infected…"

The man narrowed his eyes and lifted his hand and clenched it into a fist. Wallace felt his throat tighten and he dropped to his knees.

"Now you've ruined the surprise." The man said as his free hand slid over the podium, cards slid over the slots. The massive doors at the back of the room washed open a great wind swirled.

The kidnapped children suddenly snapped from their dormancy and turned slowly. They started to walk towards the opening gateway. The digi-destined moved to get in the way only to find themselves blocked by the kidnapped digimon. Wallace winced as he saw the beast that was Lopmon drop down in front of Mimi. As if by instinct the giant cactus smashed its gloved fists into the beast which snarled and brought its club like arms up pummeled the cactus. The other kidnapped digimon advanced, the digi-destined's digimon were outnumbered but with a little fanfare the group of destined digimon glowed, evolved and emerged at a higher level.

Wallace felt his throat loosen he yelped. "Please stop!"

The digimon fought. Wallace went unheeded. Wallace turned and saw the man lift his hand, he saw his own D-3 held high, the color sucked from it. The kidnapped kids' digimon became fuzzy with static and then melted lifting into the air as a sickly static cloud that swirled and twisted and then fell crashing over the beast that had been Lopmon. The beast roared loudly, it was a howl of pain and suffering and everyone backed away as the monster grew and changed.

"It looks like a Cherubimon-" Koushiro said, as the creature re-emerged from the static.

The monster had huge Popeye-like arms, with large fleshy clawed hands. A frill with jangles on their tips wreathed its neck as its simple oval head snarled. Large ears flopped from the peak of the head. The top heavy body was dark purple and sickly green.

The monster lifted its fist and smashed it down in front of the children. Instinctually Metal Greymon and WereGarurumon reverted to their Rookie forms and within seconds were launching forward as Metal Garurumon and WarGreymon. The dark Cherubimon roared in rage and flung the two Mega Digimon away from it and reached again for the children. Wallace gasped as the other children's digimon DNA digivolved and blasted the monster.

"Face it!" Taichi shouted loudly to the man. "You are outnumbered! Don't make us do something we'll regret!"

"Outnumbered you say?" The man smirked as he looked up. WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon were launching themselves once more into the fray. "I think you need to count…"

The man lifted his hand up and snapped his fingers. WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon froze in place. They groaned. WarGreymon held his head, Metal Garurumon was shaking his head.

"WarGreymon!" Taichi shouted.

"Metal Garurumon!" The blonde yelled.

"Those Kuramon were a near perfect vector…" The man said quietly. "A trojan horse, inside the trojan horse. I assumed you creatures would appreciate the needless complexity." WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon landed behind the man faces blank as if mesmerized. The man walked from behind the podium. "Unfortunately, for whatever reason your digimon showed a resistance to the infection, I couldn't summon them from a distance, nonetheless the infection laid dormant but present waiting for me to get close enough. Lopmon, however, not only was he pliant, he served to be the most ingenious incubator for the virus, unfortunate in that it mutated him. But better yet was its compulsion to get its partner, and with him a D-3…which has opened a whole new world to me!" The man turned and pointed to the giant turtle and the massive phoenix in the spacious room. "Capture them, infect them."

Before anyone could react WarGreymon had smashed a clawed fist into the face of the turtle digimon knocking it off its feet. The phoenix likewise found an exploding canister in its face icing its entire torso and bringing it crashing to the ground.

"JumboGamemon!" shouted Koushiro

"Valdurmon!" Mimi cried.

With a breath of air the Cherubimon appeared above both Mega digimon. Its massive arms smashed down pressing its hands onto the Mega digimons' heads. The man walked forward and stood in front of Taichi.

"Now, my monster, secure the Chosen Ones." The man said, looking down at the teenagers. Taichi took a step back.

"Lopmon don't!" shouted Wallace but to no avail.

The massive digimon pointed and black spheres flew grabbing the six children, engulfing them. The man turned and walked to Wallace.

"I think, we have more truth to see." the man said as he grabbed Wallace by the front of his shirt and lifted him to eye level. "Look into my eyes."

888

"It's been too long." Miyako said pacing.

"It's only been a couple of hours." Iori said as he sat in one of the chairs.

"No message, no check in though!" Miyako retorted hotly.

"Calm down, it's fine." Daisuke said waving it off. "I mean how bad could it be…"

"All of this world will fall-" Everyone turned as the words came from Hikari's mouth. The children and digimon winced as the room filled with a light glow.

"Hikari…" Daisuke started.

"No-" Takeru said. That was when the door to Koushiro's office opened.

"It's you!" The children turned to see Maki Himekawa standing in the doorway.

"The Chosen Ones are compromised-" Hikari's body stood up.

"See, something did go wrong! We gotta go!" Miyako yelped.

"No!" Hikari's head turned and she looked at Miyako. "Destiny has failed. It is now time for direct intervention."

Suddenly the light disappeared and Hikari collapsed.

"Kari!" Daisuke yelped as he dove to catch her. "What the hell was that?" Daisuke yelped as he looked at Kari's unconscious face.

"It happened last year, remember-" Iori said as he looked down to Daisuke.

"It happened, when we were in the Digital World the first time, too-" Takeru said, furrowing his brows. "We never did know what it was only some kind protecting spirit…"

"It's the being that maintains balance and promotes growth and evolution, it is the steady heartbeat of existence, the life breath of life itself, it is the homeostasis of Digital World." Maki said as the woman walked forward and examined Hikari. "It usually only reaches out in the form of a possessing spirit to a person most pure of heart."

"It said direct intervention-" Ken said looking at the computer screens. "What does that mean?"

"Shakamon is materializing herself…" Maki said.

 **888**

 **AN: Sorry for the wait peeps. This chapter was really hard to get out because it was at the fork in a road. Again sorry for the wait!**


	7. Connection

**Connection**

 **888**

"Well? How is she?" He asked. Maki saw the reflection of Daigo appear in the window to her office.

She looked through the reflection to the girl laying still unconscious on the little couch. The boy, the alternate goggle head, was sitting next to her, watching over her. The other children were confined, their digimon, likewise. There was a commotion they had wanted very badly to retrieve the other Chosen Ones. They had made threats they couldn't make good on, and now they were contained for the moment, to let things cool down.

"Still out." Maki said quietly, she narrowed her eyes. "The others?"

"The Ichijouji boy has got them tacitly calmed down, but that Takashi boy still has some kind of fire in his eyes." Daigo said. "Not that they can do anything. Whatever's going on in the Digital World, it's gotta be wild. I've never seen the barrier like this, and the digital portals are all over the place…it's almost like when that phase-shifty thing that was going on last year."

"It's her." Maki said narrowing her eyes. "Something has happened, something big, and she's done. She's done playing chess, she's putting on her boxing gloves and showing up to the ring personally…"

"What about the ones that are in the Digital World?" Daigo asked. "The other kids, the kidnapped ones, showed up suddenly, even that Wallace kid, finally, but not the six Chosen Ones that went in to rescue him…are they ok?"

"It's hard to say." Maki said, closing her eyes as she leaned her head on the wall. Even now, after so many years, after becoming an adult, she could still sense the being when it made its appearance known, that's why she came to the room with the kids in it. Maki opened her eyes and watched as the alternate goggle boy held the unconscious girl's hand. "Whatever is going on, it's clear that homeostasis has given up caring…I can't remember her being this, brutal, to her host."

"You weren't awake for when it was." Daigo said, his voice that consoling voice. A joking smile played on his lips. His joking smile faded to a concerned grimace. "To think these kids, we were just like them…once."

"Maybe, but they never faced the dragons…like we did." Maki said quietly, looking through the window. "Alone…"

Maki closed her eyes. She remembered, the dragons…

 _888_

 _"Daigo, watch out!" Junpei screamed as the flames roared down._

 _Junpei pushed Daigo into a outcropping of rocks. Daigo looked to Maki, but Maki could only look forward. Junpei's bulk disappeared in brick-red crimson flames. The twin headed turtle was smashed into the mountain side as Megidramon roared savagely overhead._

 _"Akiko, Kentaro, you have to jump to us!" Daigo shouted._

 _Maki's eyes flitted over across the chasm on the other rocky outcropping a thin boy, and a girl were cowering. Holydramon and Goddramon were raging above them with Zhuquiaomon and Baihumon. Azulongmon was firing bolts down as Megidramon fired flames up at the blue dragon. The girl ran to the edge of the rocky outcropping. She prepared to jump._

 _"Hell's Howling!" A savage roar came on high._

 _Daigo leapt onto Maki, driving her and the little digimon she held down to the ground. Maki fought Daigo pushing her head up. She would grow to regret doing that, as she watched Akiko's flesh age, wither crack and heard it creak as it cracked at its edges bleeding rusty dust as the wind from the roar swept the girl away as a cloud of ancient dust._

 _"Summon Amon The Destroyer!" Goddramon's left arm blazed blue as a dragon headed serpent slithered down from on high and struck Kentaro in the back._

 _The skinny boy's brown eyes boiled blue as his entire body was lifted from the ground and vaporized into thousands of electrically charged particles that smelled so horribly of fried meat. Maki gasped loudly, holding her mouth, trying to prevent the aerosolized particles from getting in. It would be months before she would ever eat meat, or bare to be near the cooking of it again._

 _Zhuquiaomon and Baihumon were driven to the ground by Goddramon. Ebonwumon was pinned to the valley by Holydramon. Megidramon and Azulongmon still wrestled in the sky but as lightning and fire battled in the sky the flames were burning hotter than the lightning was bright. Daigo looked up and then back to Maki._

 _She felt it before, in the darkness of the caves. When they had been tortured by nightmare visages of the Shadramon. That burning light that cut through the dark that had led them to the people that would show them how to use the crests. Now she felt it again that presence that light. She looked to see Daigo backing away. She looked down. the little In-training digimon a silly looking creature with large fringe ears and a funny pair of triangles impressed on its head. Its wide eyes staring at her in wonder. She felt her arms moving without her control as the Great Dragons roared in all their ferocity._

 _"It is time-" the voice said from within, and then from without. Maki turned, mentally to see a reflection of herself looking at her. "The battle is nearly over-"_

 _"They're dead!" Maki said, crying and trying to point to where the other children had been._

 _"Necessary, it was always an estimated risk." the reflection said._

 _"Estimated risk!?" Maki screamed. "Is that what you see us as, sacrifices, pawns?"_

 _"For the greater good, for evolution to occur, some must fall." The reflection replied, nonplussed. It looked beyond her and upwards. "The Great Dragons are a threat, now that they know another world exists, they will wage endless war to control it and purge it of what they see as a virulent pestilence. They must be contained."_

 _"But they are too strong, you saw; they killed Junpei, Akiko, Kentaro, there's just the two of us left!" Maki screamed, tears were metaphorically falling from her cheeks as the entity has full control of her actual body._

 _"There is a way." The entity said. Maki felt her head turn and her eyes fall on Calumon. "The catalyst will engage in one last effort…"_

 _"You can't!" Maki screamed. "The last time nearly killed him! This one…"_

 _Maki stopped, the being need not explain its plan. She could see that it was fully aware of the conditions, and it cared not one bit for the result of this new assault. Maki watched as Calumon morphed into a Salamon and then to a Nefertimon and then an Angewomon. The three Great Dragons looked down in annoyed shock and in that moment the restrained Sovereigns wrested away to their freedom as Angewomon, only half-solidified, burned towards them._

 _"NO!" Maki screamed to no effect as the entity kept a strong hold on her body. She watched as the Sovereigns glowed and were drawn in. There was a blinding golden radiance._

 _The strain of it the entity's control, her attempts to free herself, Maki couldn't see the rest of it. She awoke to Daigo sitting next to her, his small hand clasped around hers. They were back, in the real world, in the middle of the campground._

 _888_

"Hello?" Hikari felt cold and alone and in the dark.

The last thing she remember was that energy. She'd felt it a few times, and sometimes it still whispered to her in the dark. Never anything she could quite comprehend always hushed whispers, it had always felt comforting. Now, though, it was dark and cold and silent. She could feel a warmth on her hand. She looked down but could see no obvious source of the heat but she felt compelled to close her hand around it as if to hold it close to her, so as to not let go. She had to find her big brother, Daisuke, the others, the Digital World was in danger.

The world was gray and fuzzy but nonetheless she could make out Daisuke's smiling face. His hand was tightly gripping hers. As she tried to sit up he grabbed her and hugged her tightly. She gasped in shock as he nearly crushed her to death.

"You're awake!" Daisuke cheered. "You've been out for a while! I didn't know what was going on!"

"Where…where are?" Hikari started as she looked around the unfamiliar room.

"Psycho government lady's office." Daisuke said finally releasing Hikari and jumping up.

As he did so the door to the office opened a woman walked in, Hikari recognized her from the Kuramon situation; she'd helped that strange Dr. Smith. The woman turned a chair around and sat in it. Behind her was Taichi's weird teacher, Mr. Nishijima.

"How are you?" Mr. Nishijima asked.

"My head…hurts…" Hikari said flooded with new sensations. "What-what happened?"

"The homeostasis entity possessed your body and then abruptly departed." The woman said as she took out a pen light and shined it in Hikari's eyes. "The psychic trauma rendered you unconscious."

"Where are the others…?" Hikari winced.

"These two locked them up!" Daisuke growled, glaring at the adults. "And our digimon."

"You threatened to rush into the Digital World, you threatened us with physical harm, using your digimon." The woman said sharply. "You were contained for your own safety…"

"My brother's locked up?" Hikari said shaking her head. "No, he was already in the Digital World, they were going to get…"

"Wallace-" Daisuke said his tough guy face fading to one of concern. "Yeah, that…"

"The older Chosen Children are still in the Digital World." Mr. Nishijima said almost apologetically. "Some kind of…"

"An anomaly has disrupted the digital portal system, we're looking into a work around." The woman said cutting off the man. Daisuke narrowed his eyes and glared at the woman.

"You wouldn't let us go get them, even to try!" Daisuke shouted.

"Because the portals are unstable." The woman replied, sharply. "Mr. Nishijima-"

"I'm afraid Ms. Himekawa is correct, in that the portals don't look safe for travel." Mr. Nishijima said, without much confidence.

"Something's not right." Hikari said, closing her eyes. "Something is wrong…the world…the light…"

"You're still connected, aren't you?" Ms. Himekawa asked as she came closer, kneeling in front of Hikari.

"Oi!" Daisuke growled, but the woman glared at him and he backed down almost immediately.

Hikari felt the woman grasp her head and look deep into her eyes. "The possession, it's a two way street, you know that, right? Sometimes, you can hear it, even when it's not talking to you. Can't you?"

"Always whispering, louder in my sleep, in my dreams, but I can never understand the words unless its talking to me." Hikari replied as she felt her head being jostled left and right as Ms. Himekawa inspected her.

"The dreamscape is where this thing mostly exists, it rarely fully materializes in the physical dimensions." Ms. Himekawa said almost offhandedly. "The universe doesn't have enough RAM to fully load it. If it ever fully materialized the universe's frame rate would crash…"

"You know an awful lot about this thing for an adult!" Daisuke grumbled, crossing his arms.

"It's my job to understand the other world to protect the humans living in this world from the other world's most dangerous agents." Ms. Himekawa returned, without giving Daisuke as much as a look. "Unlike someone like you, I'm not graced with destiny filling in the blanks for me." Ms. Himekawa held Hikari's head in her hands and closed her eyes. "If you focus you can hear it, your connection is astounding, you may even be able to influence it. I know it's hard; it hurts, I know, but Ms. Yagami, you're the only connection we've got…please…"

Hikari looked at Ms. Himekawa and then to Daisuke. Daisuke looked at her; he smiled weakly.

"I know you can do it…" Daisuke said, she felt him take her hand.

Hikari swallowed slightly. "I-I'll try…"

888

"Something's not right." Miyako said her eyes narrowed as she sat leaning against against the heavy desk in the middle of the office they were locked in. "He's been gone too long. Hikari didn't look good when they took her, and that Mr. Nishijima didn't look too pleased when he got Daisuke."

"Daisuke is with her, he'll go to whatever lengths are necessary to protect her." Ken replied, he was sitting on a small futon couch in the office; elbows braced against his knees his hands held together in front of him as he sat slightly bent forward.

"The real issue is with the others trapped in the Digital World…" Takeru said, the blonde haired boy was standing against a wall in the corner, his torso covered his shadow but the deep frown and sharp eyes were obvious from the outside.

"Takeru-" Iori said, the youngest boy looked to Takeru.

"He's right." Ken said quietly. The dark haired boy's eyes narrowed. "I'm not Koushiro but I have some familiarity with how the Digital World functions…what I saw on those monitors wasn't good."

"Even more reason for us to go in break out our digimon, and get the others!" Miyako said jumping from the office chair she was sitting in.

"How?" Ken asked, almost venomously. "We'd have to find our digimon. We'd have to find Hikari and Daisuke, and then the barrier is crazy unstable, the digi-ports probably aren't even viable. We don't even know what the hell we're facing on the other side. If whatever it is has 'compromised the Chosen Ones' we may be facing off against the people we're trying to save!"

"It doesn't matter!" Takeru growled. The blonde emerged from the shadows, his blue eyes blazing. Ken leapt to his feet as Takeru grabbed him. "Matt, Sora, the others are in there. We can't just leave them! They are expecting us to save them, that was the whole damned point of us staying behind!"

"I realize that, Takeru." Ken said calmly but with a tinge of annoyance. He looked straight into Takeru's eyes. "But what good are we if we are shredded across the void between worlds because the barrier decides to slam the digi-port closed as we're transiting it? What good are we if as soon as we arrive we're obliterated by some kind of super monster? We already have faced off against one Ultra digimon in the last two months, what if there's an entire army of them?"

"We're their last hope! I refuse to believe we quit, just because the logistics aren't right!" Takeru growled, his grip on the front of Ken's shirt tightened. He gritted his teeth together. "Matt's my brother! If I lose him…If…"

"We'll get him back." Iori said, the youngest boy put his hand gently on Takeru's arm. Takeru pursed his lips and pushed Ken away and started to walk away. Iori's hand slid and caught Takeru's and gripped it. Takeru stopped and turned to Iori. The youngest boy looked up at Takeru earnestly. "We'll find a way, we just have to be patient….I'm sure there's a way."

"What we need to do is find a way to get out of here." Miyako said, nodding in assurance.

"We've been able to get out of here for a while." Ken said quietly. He reached into the side pocket of his pants and pulled out a small metal container. "The lock isn't complicated I can have it picked in a couple minutes…"

"You - you could've…we've sat here and you..you!" Takeru started to growl as he pulled himself from Iori and started to charge towards Ken. His fist clenched. Takeru swung his fist and within a few seconds he found himself laying on the ground.

"We all needed some time to cool down." Ken said breathing a little hard, his arms wrapped around Takeru's arm. He pinned his knee onto Takeru's chest as the blonde struggled in vain. "They have Hikari, they have Daisuke, who knows what they'll do with them if we tried to do something rash. If they wanted us properly contained they'd have locked us in a better cell, they'd have confiscated our belongings, don't you think? This tells me that they aren't exactly working on the orders of UNIT, it also tells me they are just as baffled by all of this as we are. The fact they aren't working under UNIT orders means they probably aren't bound by the rules of law that a UNIT officer would be, and they aren't necessarily thinking things through because they are confused and thinking emotionally. But we have to have a plan before we proceed, we have to know what the hell is going on before we go blazing in! This is a military facility for crying out loud! Any one of us could easily get killed by a bullet if they really thought we were a threat!"

"Oh my god…you're right…" Miyako slumped down into the chair behind the desk. "As far as anyone knows we could've been captured by the Digital World, they could kill us and no one would ever find us…never even think…"

"Now's not the time for histrionics, Miyako!" Ken growled through gritted teeth, glaring back at the girl.

Ken slowly pulled away from Takeru. He extended his hand to Takeru, but the blonde slapped away and stood up, dusting himself off and crossed his arms as he walked over to his corner.

"So we can get out of here." Iori said taking a deep breath as if to sweep past what just had happened. "So then do you have a plan?"

"If we knew where our digimon were…" Ken said quietly.

"Which we don't because we've been trapped in here." Takeru pointed out.

Ken shot a glare to Takeru. He narrowed his eyes and looked forward again, and started thinking aloud.

"They can't be far," Ken said quietly, "but they'd have to be in a vault or a…"

"Great so we have to crack into a bank vault…" Takeru grumbled sarcastically.

"You aren't exactly helping here!" Ken growled back.

"Face it, you don't have a plan!" Takeru returned loudly.

"Guys - please, don't start fighting again…" Iori whispered as the two older boys started to shout at one another.

The door handle to the office jangled. The kids turned and looked as the door swung open. Wormmon, Hawkmon, Patamon and Armadillomon leapt through the open door. Behind them, Daisuke and Veemon stood. Daisuke smugly rubbing his nose and smiling.

"Daisuke!" Miyako yelped as she hugged Hawkmon. "You saved us!"

"You're back." Ken said as he held Wormmon.

"Yeah, Kari's awake." Daisuke said smiling. "Daigo and that Himekawa chick are helping her get in contact with that glowy thing…they told me to come get you all, said you'd been in time-out long enough."

Ken shook his head he walked to Daisuke and hugged him tightly. Ken then half whispered in Daisuke's ear. "You are still a miracle…"

"Dude…" Daisuke said blushing.

888

"Absolutely not!" Daigo growled as he glared at Maki.

"It's the only way." Maki whispered as she looked over to the girl who was talking gently to the beige puppy kitten sitting in her lap. "She's too….nice…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Daigo said as he walked to the door, opening it and holding it for Maki as she left the office. Daigo closed the door behind.

"She won't force the connection." Maki said, sharply. "Shakamon is a being that has an immense mindscape, lots of defenses, if we're going to get into it she's going to have to push, and she refuses."

"And I suppose you think you can provide that push?" Daigo said crossing his arms.

"Of course!" Maki said, sharply. She looked through the window of the door and looked at the girl.

"Of course that means you think you can even do anything." Daigo said shaking his head. "You still think you can connect to this homeostasis thing…"

"My affinity for it is less, but this girl's connection to it is beyond anything I was ever capable of even as a child, even when that thing was hijacking my body." Maki said as she looked through the window. "I think with enough help I can use her to bridge the gap."

"Yeah and then what?" Daigo asked looking at Maki. Maki didn't look to him for a minute. Daigo narrowed his eyes and grabbed Maki's arm and she looked to him. Daigo asked again. "Then what?"

"I think that we can create a conduit to allow for us to physically reach the other six kids and extract them." Maki said tersely.

"Ok, what then?" Daigo asked.

"We get the kids out."

"And you, what about you, what about the girl?" Daigo asked, his grip tightening.

"Everyone comes home." Maki said, her eyes narrowing.

"Do they?" Daigo asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maki growled.

"You've been obsessed with returning to the Digital World, since we got back." Daigo hissed quietly. "I had thought you'd given up after you saw what happened to that Oikawa fellow, a couple of years back…he nearly destroyed both worlds, nearly plunged us all into darkness. Nearly got millions killed in that digimon invasion."

"They are still in that world." Maki said looking up at Daigo. "I know it, they have to be, nothing in the Digital World dies, it just gets reborn…"

"That's not true, that's not how it works, and you know it." Daigo said, shaking his head. "Things can die in the Digital World just as well as here…they are gone, lost…"

"Nothing's lost until its forgotten." Maki said, glaring up at Daigo. "That's what Dr. Smith says. If there's anywhere that's true it's the Digital World, and if there's anything that can make it true it's Shakamon."

"I knew it." Daigo said, pursing his lips. He closed his eyes and released his grip on Maki. "I know you took it hard, but it's been over a decade, you have to…"

"I watched them, Daigo…" Maki said. "I watched them burn…and you want me to get over it?"

"You have to keep going to forward, you can't keep looking back-" Daigo said.

"I am going forward, if I can get into Shakamon, I can bring them back, Daigo." Maki said looking at him with hopeful eyes, moistening with tears. "I can save them from the fire! This could be the only shot we get at this!"

"No!" Daigo said shaking his head. "We'll find another way to extract the trapped kids."

"There's no other way." Maki said, she closed her eyes and when they opened they were hard and business-like. "You know that there's no way any of the established portals between this world and the Digital World will be safe. If you don't let me try, those six kids are going to die or worse. Can you really let more kids die in the Digital World, when you could've done something? How much blood can you wash your hands with, Daigo?"

"Those deaths aren't on me." Daigo said with a growl. "I can't believe you'd even… If you think I don't remember them, if you don't think I have the same cold sweats at night, remembering those screams, that boiling flesh…How dare-"

"Let me try, Daigo." Maki said, grabbing his hands, and looking into his eyes. "Let me keep these kids from seeing their friends die. Let me save them, I can do it…please."

Daigo closed his eyes, and sighed loudly. "Fine, but only extract the kids in the Digital World, don't you dare fiddle more with Shakamon…get in, get out, no extra stuff."

Maki nodded. Daigo grumbled and turned and opened the door to the office. He looked up to see the other kids walking towards them from down the hall.

"I'll explain it to them when they come in." Maki said as she walked into the room.

"Don't make me regret this." Daigo said.

888

"So, you can make mental contact with this…Shakamon?" Ken furrowed his brow as he looked at Ms. Himekawa.

"More than that." The woman said quietly as she entwined her fingers. "I believe with Ms. Yagami can create a conduit between this world and the Digital World with my help, and we can use that to get the others out."

"This sounds…" Salamon's large eyes narrowed almost reminding the others that she was still Gatomon inside. "Fishy…"

"You're just hungry." Veemon said with a smile. The smile disappeared as Salamon's eyes sliced over the little, blue dragon.

"Shakamon is a being of myth and legend, you can't just hop into her brain." Salamon said her normally floppy ears flattened against her head. "Even if you could…"

"I think Ms. Himekawa is on to something." Hikari said quietly. Salamon looked up shocked as Hikari looked around to the other kids. She took a deep breath. "I can hear her-it, this is the loudest I've ever heard the voice when it isn't talking to me directly, even when it possesses me it's like it shoves me into a side closet while it borrows my body."

"Shakamon's coalescing as we speak. This will represent the best chance we have to do this." Ms. Himekawa said, dropping her fist into the palm of her other hand. "I fear if we don't act now there won't be a chance to act later."

The kids looked up at the woman.

"Is it really that bad?" Takeru asked looking from the woman to the man.

"It's…" Mr. Nishijima started.

"The barrier is shredded, the Digital World is experiencing unprecedented trauma." The woman said as she stood up. "Whatever is going on over there, it's prompted Shakamon to show up personally, that's never happened before and I'm not entirely sure the world could take it if it did."

The woman sat at the end of a couch in the office. She indicated the seat next to her and Hikari slowly got up and put Salamon on the chair she had been sitting on. She walked tentatively to the couch and sat down. The woman nodded as she held out her hand. Hikari reached out and grasped it.

"Are you sure we can do it?" Hikari whispered.

"Just like I told you, close your eyes, focus on your breathing, and listen…" Maki replied as she several deep breaths. "When you hear the voice, go to it, and grab the sound…"

Hikari closed her eyes and took deep breaths. The muscles around her eyes tensed as she slowly breathed quietly. For several minutes nothing seemed to happened, but then slowly a glow formed around Hikari. The light shimmered and grew in strength. It flowed from the girl to the woman. Ms. Himekawa tensed as she slowly stood. Hikari was standing behind her, the two grasping each others' hands. Hikari and Ms. Himekawa opened their eyes, but nothing was behind their eyelids but light.

"Maki…" the young man said as he stepped forward.

"Hikari…" Daisuke walked to Hikari.

"Connection-" the two said in unison, "is made."

Ms. Himekawa lifted her hand and seemed to inspect it. She turned her head to Hikari and then looked to Mr. Nishijima.

"Are you ok?" Mr. Nishijima asked as he pushed towards Ms. Himekawa.

"It's all here, Daigo-" the two women said together. "Everything, I can't even explain-"

"Maki, remember, you promised, please!" Mr. Nishijima said.

The woman's head turned and looked at Mr. Nishijima. She turned and looked to the children and the digimon. She reached up and pointed to the door of the office.

"Connection is made-" The two said together and then there was a flash of light. The two were gone.

"HIKARI!" Daisuke shouted.

"Dammit Maki!" Daigo growled.

"The door…" Iori said the little boy pointed. The fringes of the door were glowing.

Daisuke ran to the door and pulled it open. There was a light. A light so bright that everyone could taste it.

"That's the portal-" Salamon shouted. "I can feel Hikari through there!"

"Then we know what to do!" Daisuke shouted and he turned and leapt into the light. Veemon charged after him.

"WAIT!" Ken shouted, but it was too late. The boy furrowed his brow.

"Do we go?" Miyako asked.

"We don't have much choice now-" Takeru said loudly as he and Patamon ran towards the light.

Iori and Armadillomon ran after him. Ken watched as Miyako and Hawkmon rush into the white void. Ken frowned and looked over to Mr. Nishijima.

"We'll bring everyone back." Ken said as he looked down to Wormmon.

"I'll stay back, then, just in case there are any questions." Mr. Nishijima said, frowning. "Just don't die…"

"I can't make any promises, but, Daisuke, he's the stuff of miracles." Ken said as he looked to the light and ran towards it. He and Wormmon leapt into the light.

 **8888**

 **AN: Progress! I am super hoping you guys are enjoying this story. I finally feel a bit of momentum building so…hopefully this portends good things!**


	8. Miracles No More

**Miracles No More**

 **888**

The man stood before them as they hung in dark bubbles. Taichi winced as he felt the vibration. It was a pulsing that throbbed through his entire body. It was as if it was a car passing with the bass turned all the way up. Taichi looked down. The man closed his eyes and took a long deep breath. Behind him, thronging him, were WarGreymon, Metal Garurumon, Valdurmon JumboGamemon and the dark Cherubimon. Another pulse of vibration rumbled, dust, and bits of brick rained down hissing across the brick-laid floor of the gate room.

"What is that?" Mimi asked looking around. "It…hurts…"

"Ultrasonic frequencies at specific pitches can cause capillary hemorrhaging." Jyou replied as he looked at his fingers.

"I don't think it's just sound…" Koushiro said as he pulled out his laptop from a bag.

"You really take that everywhere don't you!" Yamato grumbled.

"It's saved us more than once." Koushiro said as he held it and tapped. "It's not just sound…it's…everything."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora asked.

"She's coming-" The man said as he opened his eyes. He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. The Cherubimon shifted slightly and the bubbles lowered and touched ground, depositing the children on the ground. The man walked towards them. "You should count yourself lucky, not everyone can claim to have been in the presence of the right hand of God itself…"

"Who is…she?" Mimi asked looked at the man.

"Your benefactor-" The man said as he turned to the gate.

"Stop being so cryptic!" Yamato shouted as he slammed his fists against the bubbles which rippled ineffectually.

"Shakamon-" the man said quietly. "The being that created your destiny, has led you along this path since the very moment that your existence began, before you were born…moving you into position…"

"Shakamon…" Taichi said as he narrowed his eyes. "Isn't that-"

"The digimon that Gennai's people worshipped." Koushiro said standing up and closing his laptop.

"The liar." The man replied smirking. "Telling all those lies that love, knowledge, reliability, sincerity, friendship, courage are virtues. Telling you, meek things that they have given you some kind of power." The man walked to the edge of the bubble. "Tell me, children, tell me, where have those virtues led you? What power do you have, now? What kind of world have you brought forth?"

"They brought us together, we stopped so much evil, we've saved the-" Mimi started and then looked up at Valdurmon looming over them.

"You stopped evil?" The man asked, turning. "All I see is a constant turn around, you beat one enemy and another crops up; this world, is on the cusp, your dear benefactor willing to destroy it to preserve some concept of victory in the face of total defeat." The man closed his eyes. "And you still deny the truth, and in the denial you remain separated, segregated individuals, grasping feverishly into the cold, cold night, afraid and alone, insecure and unloved, ignorant of your own inconsistencies. Suffering every indignity because you are too obnoxiously obstinate to accept reality's one infinite truth."

"If you think we're going to give in because you're going to talk us to death-" Yamato started.

"No, I don't think that will work either." The man said as he stared into the blonde teenager's eyes. The man tilted his head and smirked. "I tried preaching once long, long ago, but even the ones willing to listen were too limited by their own existential instincts to fully subsume themselves to the truth. That fool Siddhartha came back after all, claiming to teach but really because he couldn't quite give up the habit."

"The habit?" Jyou's eyebrow quirked up curiously.

"The habit that every one of you have." The man said quietly, a low growl forming in the back of his throat. "The habit all things have, from the smallest particle to the grandest of universes. An endless addiction, to a drug that is part of the very fabric of everything that has ever been or will be. A sickness I will see ended."

"What the hell are you going on about?" Yamato growled. Taichi watched as the blonde shook his head.

"You exist." The man said, stonily as he looked at Yamato.

"Yeah, join the club, so do you, dude." Yamato said in a tone that did not sound very impressed.

"Only because you force me to take on this…" The man grimaced as he displayed himself, "insult."

"Wait, wait, you mean to tell me that prior to when you took over Gennai's body, you didn't exist?" Koushiro asked. The cinnamon haired boy looked at the man intrigued.

"I was forced here, to start my divine goal." the man said as he turned. "To end all existence, anywhere it crops up. To bring all of us back to the truth…to the perfection that we were all a part of before the others deigned to exist."

"So you're going to destroy the world?" Sora asked.

"That's horrible…" Mimi added.

"No, you ingrate." the man growled. "Nothing so superficial would be sufficient."

"I think my head hurts." Jyou grumbled.

"These vibrations are getting worse…" Mimi said as she gently put her hand on his shoulders.

"That's not what he meant." Yamato grumbled as he rubbed his temple and shook his head as he looked at the man with Gennai's body. "The poor bastard's gone mad…"

"She's nearly here, I'd say pray to your god, but she'll be here soon enough!" The man said almost giddily, as he walked towards the gate doors.

888

Daisuke groaned as he felt the light burning through his eyelids. He slowly shook his head, feeling the liquid inside slosh from one side to the other. His entire body felt like a water balloon. It took him a few minutes to stand on his feet. He slowly, wearily opened his eyes to the blaze outside. A light so bright it circled back to the other side engulfing everything in darkness.

"The rods in your retina are overloaded…" He heard Ken's voice grumble. Daisuke turned his head slowly he could sense a movement in the enlightened darkness and slowly that movement focused, refined into a shape, that shape into a body, that body into Ken. Ken's body stumbled over to Daisuke and he gently leaned against him as Daisuke blinked. Ken slowly lifted his hand and gave him a thumbs up. "Give it a minute, for your eyes to adjust."

Daisuke nodded and looked around. They were in a hallway, a white hallway, a long, white, hallway lined with doors. Takeru and Iori were leaning against the wall, as was Miyako. Their digimon were sitting, groaningly and blinking on the floor.

"Where's Hikari?" Daisuke asked, he felt his heart speed up as the anxiety set in. He twisted and turned, looking feverishly around.

"Where's that Maki lady?" Takeru grunted as he pushed himself onto his feet, staggering slightly as he turned to Iori.

Hawkmon and Veemon helped Miyako to her feet.

"That way-" Salamon said pointing further down the hallway. "I can feel it, both of them…"

"Let's go then." Daisuke said as he walked slowly forward, feeling his legs, like mud slodge forward.

"Where are we?" Miyako grunted as she looked around.

"We can ask questions when we catch up to Hikari and Ms. Himekawa." Ken said as he followed Daisuke. He reached out and grasped Miyako's hand. He looked up and caught her eyes with his. "Let's go, sooner we're moving the sooner we'll get answers."

Miyako blushed brightly and then followed in tow. The digimon staggered forward and Takeru and Iori tailed behind. They walked for what seemed like miles. Daisuke tried counting the doors they passed but quickly lost track, each door, identical to the one that last went past. Eventually he could make out the silhouettes of two forms ahead of them. One was an adult the other a young teenager.

Daisuke ran to them, the others struggled to keep up with him as he ran to the teenager. He could see her now. He reached out to grab her. She turned and he hugged her tightly. She giggled as he twirled her around, and gently put her down.

The others caught up to them. Miyako huffed and puffed as she leaned down and braced against her knees. Takeru hugged Hikari briefly and Ken grasped her hands gently and smiled at her. She reached up and patted Iori on the head.

"Are you ok?" Salamon asked as she looked up at Hikari with a worried look.

"I feel…" Hikari smiled, "great!" She turned and looked to Ms. Himekawa. "For the first time in a long time, I feel…like I'm where I'm supposed to be."

"Where are we, anyways?" Miyako asked as she looked around at the doors and the hallway. "Are we in the Digital World, or are we…somewhere else?"

"Yes…" Ms. Himekawa said as she looked at the doors.

"'Yes', we're in the Digital World? Or 'yes' we're somewhere else?" Miyako asked.

"Yes." Ms. Himekawa replied, looking around, her eyes narrowed as she seemed to be trying to work something out.

"Yeah but which one because you're being vague-" Miyako said as she scratched her head.

"It's complicated." Hikari finally said quietly. "We're umm, in well, how should I put it?"

"We're in Shakamon's mind." Ms. Himekawa said abruptly as she frowned.

"Are we dreaming?" Iori asked quietly. "Because how can we be in a mind, I mean we're physically here…aren't we?" Iori reached out and poked Armadillomon.

"Sure don't feel like dreamin'!" Armadillomon said as he reached up and poked Iori.

"Shakamon is a being that exists in multiple realities simultaneously, her mind intersects with many as a physical plane of existence. " Ms. Himekawa explained as she turned and started to walk down the hallway. "We're using that as a means to create a conduit to the Digital World we wish to access."

"What's up with the doors?" Daisuke asked as he walked up to one. He reached out and grabbed the door knob.

"Don't touch that!" Ms. Himekawa and Hikari shouted simultaneously, turning to him as he turned the knob.

Daisuke yelped and pulled back, slightly opening the door. Ms. Himekawa ran forward and pushed the door closed. Ms. Himekawa looked at Daisuke with an insane glare.

"The doors are a physical representation of gateways to other realities." Ms. Himekawa said between breaths. "Each door represents a portal to a completely different reality, where the rules of existence could be very alien. Worlds where the skin of humans and digimon could be flip-flopped, or you could be turned into walking tomatoes or you could annihilate into a massive nuclear explosion because the laws of physics are different…"

"Wait…" Takeru walked forward and looked at the doors. "That sounds…familiar…" Takeru closed his eyes and furrowed his brow and then snapped his fingers. "Gennai said the same sort of thing when we chased Myotismon back to Earth when we were searching for Hikari…there was this giant gateway in Myotismon's castle, I remember it was all weird because the inside of the castle didn't match the outside and things got all upside down and sideways-"

"That must be the main physical linkage between our Digital World and the multiverse." Ms. Himekawa said as she pushed away from the door and walked down the hall. "The dimensions must've been twisted due to the gateway."

"How are we going to find the right door?" Iori asked as he walked along, looking at each door with suspicion.

"We'll find the central core, when we get there we'll be able to call up our door." Ms. Himekawa said quietly.

"And you know where the central core is?" Ken asked quietly as he walked alongside of Daisuke.

"It'll show up eventually." Ms. Himekawa said.

"Eventually?" Daisuke shouted, "how long is eventually? Taichi and the others…"

"She's going to our Digital World…" Hikari said, she closed her eyes. "Soon all of this will be just one door."

Ms. Himekawa stopped and turned looking to Hikari. She walked forward and grasped Hikari's head. "Are you…are you ok?"

"I am fine." Hikari said smiling. "I've never felt so…"

Hikari winced and pulled away.

"Kari!" Daisuke yelped as reached out to catch Hikari.

Hikari turned, pivoting and as she did so, slapped Daisuke's hand away. "You are inside…why are you here?"

"Kari…it's me, Daisuke…" Daisuke whispered as he tugged at his brown and red duffle-jacket as if it were proof.

"Hikari, you need to regain control!" Ms. Himekawa shouted. "Remember, your brother, remember your friends…"

"You have intruded into things you should not intrude upon!" Hikari shouted, she clutched her head. "You cannot stop this, destiny has failed, do not continue forward! You will only make things…"

Hikari fell to her knees and she shook her head. She took several long deep breaths. Her hands dropped to the floor and she sat there on all fours for a few minutes, breathing. Miyako knelt to her side and Daisuke dropped to one knee in front of her.

"Are you ok?" Daisuke asked.

"She knows we're here." Hikari whispered on quavering lips. She slowly lifted her head. "We need to move…" Hikari winced and then shouted. "Now!"

Miyako helped Hikari get to her feet. Daisuke helped balance her and the group of humans and digimon hurried along the corridor.

"What was it talking about?" Iori asked as he jogged alongside the other kids.

"Whatever is attacking the Digital World it has her afraid." Ms. Himekawa said.

"What could scare something like Shakamon?" Takeru asked as looked to Iori who met his look with skepticism.

"The Quartzworks' Engineer, The King of Reapers, The Inevitable Tyrant, The Leviathan's Keeper, The Handler of Apocalypse, The Poisoner of Yggdrasil," Hikari said between gasps. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. "I saw it, but just flashes of it, I don't know what it means…all I saw was destruction in its wake."

"Here!" Ms. Himekawa called as she pointed, there was an intersection. Ms. Himekawa turned right and the kids and their digimon ran after her. They came into a huge amphitheater. In the center of the room was a podium with a console like interface on it. Ms. Himekawa ran to the console and looked at it. "Ok, we're here…this is it…"

"She's here, she's…" Hikari gasped as she slumped forward. Daisuke caught her and propped her up. Salamon and Veemon helped him, hold her up. Hikari weakly opened her eyes. "She's raging in my head…I'm so tired…"

"Uh…guys-" Miyako gulped slightly as she looked upwards.

Daisuke turned his head back and even he couldn't contain the shudder. It was huge, and white with a long, flowing, golden cape. The sharp edges of the head of a WarGreymon swept outward releasing a long blade.

"It's…that's…" Ms. Himekawa started.

"Omegamon…" Iori said swallowing slightly.

This white knight was jagged, sharp edged, harsher. Its glowing eyes glaring down at the children and the adult. The knight swung the tip of the sword around and pointed it at the children.

"Omegamon X-" Hikari breathed as she pulled herself onto the console. Her eyes were glowing. Daisuke held her close as Salamon hopped between the girl and the knight. "She summoned him here…"

"X?" Iori asked.

"The survivor, he survived the last time the enemy that Shakamon fears attacked reality…" Hikari said between gasps. She twisted her body around and started pushing at the console's interface.

"What are you doing?" Ms. Himekawa shouted as she stared at the girl.

"I'm not…it's-" Hikari whimpered as her fingers flew over the console. She looked up. "Oh no, that's what she's going to do." Hikari pushed herself away from the console and grabbed her head. "You can't! You can't!" Hikari fell to her knees. Her head slumped.

"I have to…" Hikari's head lifted her eyes were bright with light. "The only way to stop it now is to purge the Digital World and restart anew." Hikari's head turned to Omegamon X. "You have your orders. Execute them."

"Yes, Mistress." Omegamon tilted its head to Hikari. There was a loud clap of thunder. The children, barring Hikari, their digimon, Ms. Himekawa turned to see a door materialize in the room. It was now the only door in the room.

"Purge the Digital World?" Iori asked sharply. "What does that mean?"

"The world as it is will be erased, and re-initialized." Hikari's voice replied. "All Delete command functions will be engaged. The world will then be re-initialized, all memories will be erased, we will begin again."

"What about the Digi-destined? The ones still in the Digital World?" Takeru ran around to Hikari's side. "What will happen to them?"

"Their lives will be erased, a small sacrifice in trade for the preservation of reality itself." Hikari's voice returned as she turned to the console. Her fingers started to fly over the console again. There was a creaking sound as the door slowly started to open.

"You can't do that!" Miyako shouted as she ran to Hikari. "You have to stop. Let us get them out at least! You can't just let them die! What about Taichi, that's your brother!?"

"I have no brother." Hikari's eyes narrowed. "The biological organisms are irrelevant. Existence takes priority."

"Are you nuts?" Miyako shouted.

"It's not Hikari, it's Shakamon-" Ken said sternly. He glared up at Omegamon X who more or less had ignored them. He turned his head back to Hikari. "She's in there though, fight it, Hikari!"

"Kari-" Daisuke grabbed the girl's hand.

"You dare-" The girl's hand flew, and Daisuke's face burned. He winced, but didn't let go.

"You are in there, I know you are, Kari!" Daisuke said, he narrowed his eyes. "You're strong! I know you are! You can fight back! SO DO IT!"

"I-I…" Hikari winced, she staggered backwards. Daisuke ran and caught her as she slumped backwards. Veemon was at his side. Salamon leapt towards them as Omegamon X started to move.

"He's…part of it-" Hikari whispered. "We have to stop him..." She reached up and touched Salamon. "Please…"

The little puppy-kitten burst with light erupting upwards. Within seconds there was a female angel glowing in the room.

"Angewomon won't be able to do it on her own!" Miyako said as she grabbed her D-3 from her side. "Hawkmon!"

"Indubitably, let's go!" the brick red hawk called as he took flight glowing and shifting through a horned eagle form and a cybernetic silph. The angel and the silph merged and exploded forward as a blue armored ophanim.

The angel dove between the knight and the door way.

"Stop!" Ophanimon commanded as she swung her javelin forward.

"I will not be denied the opportunity to serve my goddess!" Omegamon X relied as the knight drew its sword.

The sword dropped down. The blade met resistance, in the form of Ophanimon's javelin and ClavisAngemon's key blade. Daisuke looked over to Takeru and Iori, the two were holding up their D-3s. The knight roared loudly and pushed, driving the two angels backwards through the doorway. Takeru and Iori ran after them. Miyako looked down. Daisuke and Veemon were trying to help Hikari to her feet.

"Go, we'll be along shortly!" Daisuke shouted to Miyako. Daisuke looked over to Ms. Himekawa. "Help me with her!"

The woman looked up slightly shocked and ran over to Daisuke and helped him. Ken was watching them. Daisuke took a deep breath.

"We're really doing this?" Ken asked.

"We don't have a choice." Daisuke said.

"Fools-" Hikari's voice hissed slightly. "Do not do this-"

Daisuke turned his head back to Hikari and saw that she and Ms. Himekawa were glowing. Daisuke frowned. "Look, I don't know what kind of thing has got you scared but my friends are in the Digital World, we and they have fought for you over and over again. You can wait until we get to safety before you drop whatever bomb you're going to drop! Now leave her alone!"

Daisuke grabbed Hikari's hand. The girl winced and the glowing faded. Both Hikari and Ms. Himekawa slumped slightly forward. Daisuke caught the both of them and Ken rushed over and shouldered Ms. Himekawa. With Veemon and Wormmon helping them they heaved themselves towards the portal.

888

The vibrations were getting worse. Taichi could hardly think. The massive iron-wrought doors snapped open, slowly. The sound of their hinges creaking slowly.

The evil Gennai clapped and cheered as the room blazed with a white light.

"SHEEEEEE'SSS HEEEEEERRRRE!" The man crowed loudly as he maniacally jumped up and down.

What followed was hard to follow. There was a blast and before he could catch it, Taichi became aware of the fact that Ophanimon and ClavisAngemon were in the room with them. That also a third digimon one very familiar if not infinitely more severe looking was also with them.

"Is that!?" Yamato looked up.

"Omegamon?" Sora gasped.

"Edgy Omegamon-" Jyou said as he adjusted his glasses.

"MATT!" A shout called out.

Taichi looked up to see Takeru and Iori running towards them from the doorway. Behind them was Miyako. Taichi ran to the bubble's surface and pressed his hands against it. He looked hoping to see her and then finally, slowly, Hikari, with the help of Daisuke and Veemon, came hobbling into the room. Behind them was Ms. Himekawa, whom Ken and Wormmon were helping.

"Well isn't that disappointing!" evil Gennai grumbled, he turned and glared into the light. "I suspect you thought you'd be clever, hmm?" He then smirked. "But then again, I'm clever, too." The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. Takeru and the newly arrived children stopped cold as ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon screamed. The Omegamon slapped them aside as they crashed to the ground. The two angels then numbly stood. "Cherubimon, it's time. Get'em boys."

The chunky beast snapped to life. It launched itself towards the Omegamon. The man lifted the D-3 he'd gotten from Wallace. He pointed it towards WarGreymon and Metal Garurumon. The two Mega digimon melted into black static and merged, reforming as a darker, less sharp version of the knight that had burst through the gateway. The man then pointed to Valdurmon and JumboGamemon and then swept his hand towards the white knight. The six Mega digimon crashed down on the knight as one force.

"Do it, Cherubimon!" The entity in Gennai's body shouted. Cherubimon's arm smashed down onto the Omegamon's head. The other five digimon were piled on the knight as energy arced from Cherubimon's thick hand into the knight's head.

"What's going on?" Takeru and Iori looked towards Taichi and the older kids.

"Your digimon must have been infected, too-" Koushiro said.

"When we fought Diaboromon that's when, the Kuramon infected them, too." Taichi said, frowning. "That guy has control of all of our digimon…and now…"

"Veemon, let's go!" Daisuke shouted. Taichi looked up and saw the blue dragon glow and morph and emerge as Paildramon. Ken was standing next to him. Wormmon was already DinoBeemon.

Before the two digimon could merge DinoBeemon was send smashing backwards by Ophanimon who had the insect pinned against a wall. Ken twisted around and as he did on the breath of wind Cherubimon appeared next to DinoBeemon and the bestial angel's fist enclosed around the insect.

"Wormmon NO!" Ken screamed as energy crackled around the terrible insect.

"My, my, my…" The man crowed loudly as he walked towards Hikari and Ms. Himekawa. "Seems, I'm sweeping the board."

"Not yet!" Paildramon growled as he lifted his guns. "Desperado-"

Both Omegamons dropped down between the dragon and the man in dark robes. Paildramon staggered backward. The dragon twisted just in time to evade the hand of ClavisAngemon. JumboGamemon and Valdurmon loomed over him. Ophanimon and Cherubimon closed of the dragon's egress from above. The Mega digimon simply corralled the dragon as the man clapped loudly.

The man turned to Hikari and walked towards her as she slumped to the ground. "Now, I assume you will surrender, then?"

"Leave her alone!" Daisuke growled. The boy was still next to Hikari. He stepped slightly between her and the man. "Or I'll…I'll stop you!"

"Empty threats from an empty thing." The man growled. He turned to Hikari and loomed over her and reached out towards her. She slumped over and he reached down towards her. "Time, I think, that you came to accept the truth."

"I won't let you hurt her!" Daisuke shouted and he leapt forward and curled his hand into a fist. The man flailed backwards as he twisted away from the punch. Ken ran to Daisuke's side, and lifted his hands prepared to fight.

"Cherubimon-" The man growled as he rubbed his jaw. "Finish the jo-"

Ken's D-terminal buzzed to life. The boy looked down and pulled the device from his pocket. As he did so, the device opened. The Digimental of Kindness emerged from it. The rosette of pink unfurled, the petals wafted into the air and swirled around Daisuke. Daisuke looked around himself and then reached out. The flower's petals landed in his hand and reformed, glowing with a golden light.

"It's-" Daisuke gasped as the light solidified into a sharp-edged Digimental made of golden digi-chrome. He looked to the man, smiled and lifted the digimental to the air. "Let's do it, Digi-armor Energize!"

The golden digimental flew towards Paildramon. The dragon didn't even get a chance to devolve to Veemon. The armor engulfed Paildramon. A golden radiance erupted outwards and the seven Mega digimon retreated as the armor transformed Paildramon. The golden light condensed around Paildramon and the dragon disappeared and what emerged from the light was familiar. Daisuke punched the air as the massive golden shoulder blades emerged, and the golden armor that covered the digimon's chest. Golden gauntlets over blue fists punched forward. The waist was encircled by a golden skirt and the feet were covered in golden armored boots. The helmet fell over the digimon's head, the large spikes that shot of the digimon's eyebrows and the crown of its head gleamed in the light of the transformation.

"Magnamon!" Daisuke cheered.

The seven Mega digimon snarled and leapt towards Magnamon. There was a golden blur. Seconds later Valdurmon, JumboGamemon, ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon were sent crashing into the ground. The two Omegamons staggered as Magnamon briefly smashed his foot into each of their chests. Magnamon slowly turned as Cherubimon rose up behind the golden knight. The armor of the knight glowed brightly.

"Magna Blast!"

There was a blaze of golden radiance as Magnamon charged towards the bestial angel. The explosion shook the castle. Shards of Cherubimon hung in the air as Magnamon rocketed through the bulk of the beast. The sharper of the two Omegamons stood and lifted its Garuru Cannon towards the knight.

"This stops now!" A voice rang from all directions.

Everything froze for a second. Time itself froze as reality stuttered, light coalesced out of the shadows, form came into focus out of the light. A smile grew across the face of Gennai's face, under the control of whatever thing had taken over the sprite. Taichi turned and saw it before the man turned. A being with multiple arms, a body vaguely human shrouded in golden robes stood in the room. Orbs rotated around it. The voice was that of many voices, but it was also a single voice. The air moved weakly and in stutters around it, as if the universe was buffering around the being.

"There it is." The man said and then turned to face the new arrival. "After such a fanfare, this is quite a disappointment, Shakamon. Where's the razzle-dazzle, as the sprite says in his mind?"

"It would most certainly be lost on something like you." The being replied. "I had hoped that this could be done neatly with Omegamon X. A simple re-initialization program executed to restart the Digital World and purge it of your presence." The being then turned its head towards Daisuke. "However, I see now that that is not possible."

"I will soon have all of your little soldiers under my control." The man said, he snapped his fingers and as he did, Cherubimon started to reform around Magnamon. Daisuke yelled towards the golden knight, but the beast had the knight soon engulfed in its bulk. "It is done, Shakamon, you are beaten, I win."

"Win?" The entity asked.

"Please, Veemon…Magnamon…" Daisuke called out. "You can do it! I know you can!"

"The battle is not yet met." Shakamon said, turning to the man, as Magnamon exploded from Cherubimon, it's golden radiance burning every scrap of the beast.

As the monster burned the black bubble that held Taichi and the other older kids, dissolved. The older children ran to the younger kids. Taichi ran directly to Hikari. Yamato ran to Takeru. Sora, Mimi and Jyou ran to Ms. Himekawa as Jyou checked her for injuries. Koushiro ran to Miyako and Iori and the three of them moved towards Hikari.

The man growled angrily and then smirked. "I still have the digimon I've infected."

The group of Mega digimon turned and launched a flurry of attacks at the entity. The being didn't even seem to move. Rather the streams of energy, ice, fire and water seemed to shift around Shakamon, as if in deference to the entity's mere presence.

"Not for long. This world will go dark." The entity said quietly. "As I said before, Omegamon X would've been neater, seamless, but I have been forced into a hard reset, the countdown has begun. You will be trapped here and will be erased, purged from this reality."

The being then folded its hands in front of itself and disappeared.

"Countdown? What's she talking about?" Koushiro asked.

"Purged?" Mimi asked.

"She's going to delete the world and reboot it." Iori replied. "That's why we were fighting with that strange Omegamon. She's going to do it whether or not we're still here when she does it!"

"Wait, we're going to get deleted?" Jyou yelped.

"No, the plan is that you leave." Ms. Himekawa said quickly. "I made a promise to Daigo, you twelve get out. The portal is still open, we can get out, but it won't hold open for long, Shakamon is retreating."

"Oh, but you must stay, my little human friends." The man that looked like Gennai said. As he did ClavisAngemon and Ophanimon dropped down between the kids and the portal. "I insist."

The two angels almost instantly got smashed backwards as Magnamon assaulted them. The golden knight turned to Daisuke.

"You have to go!" the knight shouted as he turned and charged towards the two Omegamons. He ricocheted off of one and propelled himself into the other, sending both staggering back briefly. He dropped down in front of the kids. "I'll hold them off, you have to go though, now! Before its-"

The knight was cut off as JumboGamemon slammed its heavy fist down on top of him. Valdurmon dropped down and pressed down on top of Magnamon.

"He's right-" Taichi said as he picked Hikari. He turned to Daisuke. "We gotta go."

"But-" Daisuke watched as Magnamon heaved the two massive Mega digimon off of him, as he did so DinoBeemon came from behind and grabbed him and drove him into a wall.

"He's giving us a window. We gotta take it." Taichi said, narrowing his eyes. "I don't like the idea of leaving Omegamon or any of the others behind but…"

"I know it's just-" Daisuke started.

"We don't have time." Ms. Himekawa said, she turned. "The portal's closing, we go now, or we don't."

Taichi started running towards the portal. Hikari was limp in his arms, her eyes looking worriedly back. He looked back. Yamato and the others were running along behind him, at the back of the pack was Daisuke and Ken, they were helping Ms. Himekawa. The doors of the portal were closing. Taichi ran towards the portal. His legs hurt, his arms ached. His could hear the fighting behind him. He knew that Agumon was in there somewhere, trapped within whatever viral control that man had him under, but he had to get everyone home safely. He looked down at Hikari. It was his responsibility.

888

They were running. Daisuke hated that. He hated running away. He hated worse the idea of abandoning his friends, and everything. He looked back regularly. Magnamon was getting triple and quadruple teamed. The golden radiance was fading. The power was weakening. It wouldn't be long now. They were nearly to the portal, but the doors were closing.

That's when it happened. DinoBeemon broke away from the fight. The mighty insect dove at them. Ken shouted but the beast was beyond his voice. Ken pushed Ms. Himekawa down as his partner digimon buzzed towards them. Daisuke stopped and ran towards them. He leapt. He put all of his shoulder into it. His body hit the hard endoskeleton of the insect and bounced off of it. DinoBeemon swerved off as Daisuke fell to the ground. Ken was already on his feet, he was helping Ms. Himekawa to her feet. Daisuke saw DinoBeemon swinging back around. He grunted and jumped to his feet. Mortar and rock had been falling from the ceiling. Already great shards of light from outside were piercing basement room they were in from above. Ken turned to see DinoBeemon diving towards them. Daisuke grabbed an armful of rock. He ran and put himself between DinoBeemon and Ken.

"Go! I'll keep his attention!" Daisuke shouted as he slung rock at the insect.

"But-" Ken started.

"Take Ms. Himekawa, get her out. NOW, KEN!" Daisuke screamed as he threw more rocks.

Daisuke glared back at Ken. The dark haired boy gulped and nodded and ran towards the portal. DinoBeemon dipped and dove around as Daisuke kept trying to keep the large bug's interest. Daisuke turned his head and saw Ken and Ms. Himekawa scramble through the portal. Daisuke turned and ran. The doors were swinging closed. That's when he heard it, the scream. He skidded to a stop. Magnamon was pinned to the ground. It had taken all of the Mega digimon, but they had him pinned on the ground. It was all that was needed.

The massive weight of DinoBeemon crashed down on top of him. He felt its clawed hand press his body to the ground. He struggled but like Magnamon he was pinned. The man that looked like Gennai walked towards him.

"You were so close." The man said, as he looked up at the gateway behind Daisuke. The man then knelt down and tilted his head. "You just couldn't quite manage it though, could you?"

Daisuke heard the doors of the gateway slam closed.

Daisuke looked up at the man. "Well, at least if I'm going to be deleted, you're going to be deleted, too."

"Ah, well, that's the difference between you and I." The man said, reaching forward and gently slapping Daisuke on the cheek, in a show of condescending sentiment. "I created a backup that'll survive and continue past the reboot; whereas you didn't."

The man turned and walked away. Daisuke was aware of a sizzling hiss. It seemed to be coming from everywhere. He struggled and fought to free himself. There was a squeal and he looked up to see that DinoBeemon was melting into ones and zeros. Daisuke pulled himself free and ran towards the gateway. The walls around him were melting, disappearing. He slammed his fists on the doors but they were unyielding. He pressed his head against the cold metal and then turned and slid to the ground. The digimon, all of them, were now nothing more than flickering silhouettes that were dissolving into data streams. Soon enough he was alone, soon enough the world around him was gone, soon enough he felt it, that strangest of sensations, the sensation that he was gone as well.

888

Hikari screamed and it took the combination of Taichi, Yamato, Jyou and Mr. Nishijima to restrain her as she fought them reaching towards the computer screen that they had emerged from. Ken looked at the screen. It was dark. Over the course of the next few hours it became apparent that the world itself had experienced a global digital black out every screen everywhere had gone dark. It only lasted for a few minutes, but in the modern world, it was enough to nearly sink the economies of the developed world into a depression. Later reports said that people had died as surgeries failed, planes and trains crashed, cars stalled, boats drifted off course. For a few minutes the world had the digital footprint of the nineteenth century. Ken clutched his D-3. The screen was blank, the device felt cold. They were gone, his closest friends, Wormmon, Daisuke.

"What are we going to tell Mr. and Mrs. Motomiya…?" Ken heard Miyako ask quietly.

"What are we going to tell Jun?" Taichi asked.

"That he was a hero-" Ken said quietly, looking up at the others, "that he was miraculous…and that we won't forget him."

 **888**

 **AN: So umm, the Cherubimon portion of the story is over. We got to see Magnamon…that was cool right? Kinda?**


	9. Regeneration

**Regeneration**

 **888**

Hikari leapt awake. Morning light filtered out from under the door gap at the end of her room. The shadows swept around the room, ricocheting off of the dresser and desk, refracting off the corners of her bedroom splintering into a rainbow of darkness. She took a deep breath and then realized that she wasn't alone. She looked up. At the foot of her bed someone was sitting. Her blood run with ice as she recognized the silhouette.

"You left me…" the shade said quietly.

Hikari's heart tightened as the figure turned.

"Daisuke-" Hikari whispered. "I'm sorry, the doors closed we couldn't…"

"I'm still here…though." the shade said, as he warm brown eyes looked up at Hikari morosely.

Hikari shook her head. "No, you aren't real, this is a dream…"

"Yeah, I know, that's not what I mean." The shadow moved towards her. He reached out to her and grasped her arm, she could feel the fabric of her pajamas tighten against her arms. "I'm still here…"

"Daisuke, no!" Hikari closed her eyes. "You got caught up in whatever happened over there you're-"

"No I'm not!" the shadow almost shouted. His eyes seemed to go wild for a second and then he took a deep breath and closed his eyes and loosened his grip. He opened his eyes. "I'm still here, I don't know how, I don't know why….all I know is that I'm still here, trapped in the dark…"

"This is just a dream, this is just a dream-" Hikari whispered to herself as.

"You guys have to come and get me, before it's too late, something, something is going on, something not good!" the shade shouted over her chanting. "You have to believe me!"

"I've had too many of these dreams to know that they can be messed up!" Hikari returned and opened her eyes and glared at the shadow. "You could be anything, heaven knows I've gotten screwed up by Myotismon and whatever is in that ocean…"

"And you know that sometimes these dreams are more than dreams!" The shadow said quietly, calmly. He leaned in gently and kissed her on the lips. He broke the kiss and looked at her kindly. "I'm still here, you have to believe me…"

Hikari shook her head. "You aren't real, none of this is real it's just a dream!"

"Hikari are you going to go?" the shade asked.

"The doors are closed, no one can-" Hikari started.

"Hikari are you going, the rest are going?" The shade said.

"What are you talking about?" Hikari asked looking at Daisuke.

The door at the end of the room banged loudly. Hikari jumped and looked at it and when she looked back to Daisuke the boy was gone. The door banged again-

Hikari started and leapt up. Her blanket was curled tightly around her arm. She shook her head.

"Kari, I'm going to the wake, are you coming? Everyone will be there…" she heard Taichi's voice call through the door.

Hikari felt the wooziness of wakefulness fade. She could feel her heart sink as she reached for her arm and disentangled it from the blanket. She reached up to her lips, feeling for the lingering warmth of the kiss. The excitement and hope of it started to fade as she realized that all of it was dream. She instinctively reached for Gatomon to stroke the white feline, and her hand found nothing but emptiness. She curled up in her blanket and pushed herself into the corner of the bed and started to cry again.

888

"Mr. and Mrs. Motomiya, Jun, I give you my deepest condolences." Taichi said as she bowed in front of the bereaved.

Mr. Motomiya patted Taichi on the shoulder. "How is your sister?"

"She's taking it hard." Taichi said quietly.

Kari hadn't left her room since they had come back, and she wouldn't speak or respond to anything. She wouldn't even come to the funeral. Taichi looked up at the photo of Daisuke, it was a school photo, he was in his uniform, smiling.

"Tell her that we would love to see her, some time." Mrs. Motomiya said quietly. "She was such a nice young lady."

"Thank you." Taichi said quietly as he bowed again.

"The others are in Daisuke's room…" Jun said as she pointed down the hall.

Taichi nodded quietly and turned and snaked his way through groups of mourning family members and chatting friends. He'd catch snippets of conversations.

"How very strange that he'd drown in such a way!" one old woman whispered.

"They really should get guard rails up near that aqueduct!" another woman said.

"I thought he had one of those electronic pets; where was it?" grumbled a man quietly.

"It must have got caught up in that freaky black out, like all the rest…" Someone else said. "Amazingly tragic luck that…"

"And they never found the body-" A third person said. "How horrible…say it got caught in the current and is somewhere out to sea….poor thing…"

Taichi froze for a second. He frowned wanting to respond, explain that it wasn't luck, that Daisuke didn't die because of some clumsy accident, that his corpse wasn't lost at sea. He took a deep breath through his nose. The government had been adamant that nothing about what had really happen would get out. The officials said it was bad enough that the Moment of Silence, as the blackout was now referred, had nearly destroyed international trade for a brief four minutes, but to let everyone know that it was because the Chosen Ones failed, was at the very least considered most inconvenient for everyone involved. The other digimon, the ones that had been in the Human World at the time of the reboot, died. There was no better way of putting it. He'd heard from others, that their digimon simply stopped, froze in mid-act and then exploded into crimson data that melted into the air. There was no fanfare, no countdown, no chance to say goodbye. Just one moment best friend forever, next moment cloud of that forever friend's digital ashes disappearing on the wind. Suffice it to say, there were many children who, for lack of a better phrase, lost their shit. That wasn't to say it was any easier for the Chosen Children. They'd never got to say goodbye either. Their partners had been infected and driven insane, and then worse yet they were forced to flee, knowing that those partners were going to be erased, and then on top of that was Daisuke's…

Taichi shook his head and proceeded to Daisuke's room. The room was full. They were all there, except for Hikari.

"So you couldn't get her to come?" Sora asked quietly as she looked at Taichi.

Taichi simply shook his head. "She won't even speak, she just lays in bed and stares at the ceiling…."

"Give her some time." Iori said quietly. He looked up at Taichi. "This isn't easy, for anyone, but time helps."

"I think, I think she blames herself-" Taichi said as he found the wheely chair by Daisuke's desk and sat down. "You know because she couldn't stop Shakamon-"

"She can't blame herself for that!" Takeru said loudly. "None of us could do anything. None of us…"

"At the moment, truth doesn't matter." Iori said quietly, he looked up at Takeru. "When you lose someone, you'll find a million things that you could've done to stop whatever happened from happening…"

"He's not wrong-" Ken said, finally, as he looked down at where Iori was sitting. "I mean when I lost Osamu…" Ken closed his eyes and shivered. He opened his eyes looked over to Taichi. "Just don't leave her alone too long…"

"At least, you know, it's over-" Mimi said quietly.

The other's all looked at the teenager sharply.

"How can you-?" Yamato started but Sora grabbed his arm tightly.

"I mean, you know, Daisuke died trying to save us, and it worked-" Mimi replied, her eyes were all puffy, tear stains where just drying on her cheeks but Taichi could see new tears bundling in the corners of her eyes.

"Stupid goggle-head…" Miyako said. She was wearing a black dress. "He's probably being smug and thumbing his nose right now, knowing we're all crying about him…"

"I rather doubt he'd have it any other way-" Jyou said quietly. He looked up at the ceiling and blinked, and then removed his glasses as he lifted a handkerchief to his eyes. "It's weird, I miss him. I miss all of them… Gomamon would be making some stupid joke about now…and everyone would laugh…"

"Agumon would be begging to be over at the buffet table out there-" Taichi said smiling quietly.

"No, Poyomon and Upamon would already be in the buffet line, eating everything…" Iori said quietly.

"All of our partners would-" Sora nodded.

"Patamon would be carrying stuff to be out of reach of the digimon that couldn't fly…" Takeru said smiling.

"Gabumon would have at least asked permission before just going after the others…" Yamato said quietly.

"DemiVeemon would be leading the pack, dragging Minomon behind him-" Ken said looking down at the floor.

"Salamon would be tutting quietly, sitting on Kari's lap, as she watched Poyomon scarfing down, but honestly she wouldn't be far behind-" Miyako said quietly.

"Daisuke would be snatching food out of their mouths and trying to put it on his plate." Ken said, smiling weakly.

His lips pursed slightly and leaned against the banister of the bed and gripped the foot of the bed tightly. He took a deep breath. Iori reached out and grasped Ken's hand.

"It'd be a fine mess." Taichi said quietly, smiling sadly at the collection of digi-destined. His eyes fell on Koushiro who had had his head buried in his phone during the entire conversation. "Dude…really?"

Koushiro lifted his head. "I'm sorry, it's just, I've been monitoring the, well, the Digital World…well, trying to anyways, I can't get any resolution, plus there isn't much to speak of at the moment..."

"What do you mean monitoring it?" Mimi asked. "It was deleted…"

"No, it was only re-intialized." Koushiro explained. "Basically Shakamon rebooted it to its manufacturers' settings. Everything's been coming back online, slowly, but surely."

"Wait- does that mean?" Miyako looked at Koushiro.

"I mean, everything was reset, it'll effectively be like we were never there." Koushiro said quietly. "So-"

There was a knock on the door. Everyone turned to see it was Mr. Nishijima.

"Hello everyone-" the young man said fairly solemnly. He was in a black suit and tie. He squeezed into the room and surveyed it quietly and then looked to the children. "How is…everything?"

"Everything is looking better!" Mimi said. "Izzy said the Digital World's coming back and we can see our partners!"

"I-I-" Koushiro gaped at Mimi as everyone else slapped their foreheads. Koushiro fumed slightly and took a deep breath. "I said no such thing!"

"Hmm-" Mr. Nishijima said quietly. "Still monitoring things from home then Mr. Izumi. I thought the brigadier told you to stop?"

"There's nothing wrong with monitoring its progression." Koushiro said defensively. "It isn't like we can go there. The digital port system doesn't work anymore. The D-3s won't even activate at the gates…."

"Yes, an agent did say your parents' took you up to the campsite…." Mr. Nishijima said quietly.

"So you're still watching us?" Jyou grunted as he gave the young man a side-long look.

"Why? It's not like we're important anymore…" Yamato grumbled.

"For your own safety." Mr. Nishijima said politely. "At least until we can determine that no more threats are coming for you."

"Where's Ms. Himekawa?" Ken asked quietly looking at Mr. Nishijima.

"Oh, Maki, yes-well….she's taken some leave-" Mr. Nishijima said quietly. He nodded, it looked to Taichi as if he was doing so more to convince himself than the children. "I just wanted to see how you're doing…is Hikari still-" Mr. Nishijima started, Taichi narrowed his eyes. Mr. Nishijima nodded, "-ah, yes, of course she is….would you give her my condolences and those of Ms. Himekawa."

Mr. Nishijima turned and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him. Taichi glared at the door for a minute before turning to the others. They were all asking Koushiro a barrage of questions.

"The real question is, how long until it's back to the way it was when we saw it?" Taichi asked quietly.

"Hard to tell…" Koushiro replied. "The first time around it took years for the Digital World to develop based upon a template from our world. It was built up naturally as the world got more sophisticated digital technology. This time though it's getting a direct feed from the in place digital infrastructure of our world, it's like the Digital World is getting steroids. The development is much faster than even the return from Apocalymon…which wasn't even a full reset."

"Yeah but how long until our digimon are back?" Yamato asked.

"I told you, it's not like that!" Koushiro said. "Not, exactly anyways. Our digimon may just be reborn, but without any concept of us, we'll have never been anything to them. We'd have to re-forge all of our relationships with them from start…and that's if it was even possible to get back to the Digital World…which it may not be, and even then we don't even know if our partners would even want us back…"

"Palmon couldn't forget me, I'm unforgettable!" Mimi said cheering. "We could really see them! This is great, the best news ever!"

"I never said that!" Koushiro yelped loudly. "Everyone please, calm down!"

"You can't just drop that kind of bomb on us man, and expect us not to be excited." Yamato said, shaking his head.

"Izzy's right, though." Taichi said quietly. Everyone looked up at him. "Things might be different. No need to get your hopes up…"

"Permission to do so anyways!" Takeru said lifting his hand. "It is like, my one job…"

"Only if you keep things realistic." Taichi said quietly, smiling. He looked to Ken. Ken looked to Taichi.

"What?" Taichi asked as he looked to Ken, the others' badgering of Koushiro was raucous in the background.

Ken pushed away from Daisuke's bed and walked over to Taichi. "I have just been thinking… I have some experience with…you know…losing people." Ken said quietly. "And I have some experience with the crazy stuff that Hikari has gone through with homeostasis and the Digital World…and I was just…well, Daisuke wouldn't want her to be sad like this…and I could…help…maybe…"

"If you can get through to her…" Taichi said quietly. "I'd be happy if you could help…"

"I might stop by tomorrow then." Ken said quietly, "if that's ok…that is."

"Sure, I'll tell my parents." Taichi said quietly. "So this is exciting right?"

"If I could get Wormmon back, that'd be great…" Ken said quietly. "I'd even adopt Veemon, too…for Daisuke-"

"Yeah, for Daisuke-" Taichi said, and he reached out with both arms and hugged the lavender haired teen much to the younger boy's surprise.

888

"Yeah, Izumi is still connected, somehow." Daigo said into the phone as he drove. He listened to the other end. "I don't know how…we've restricted his access to UNIT protocols. Either way they know that the Digital World is reforming. I don't want them jumping to the Digital World without us first figuring out what's going on…the restoration could be unstable, or worse…" He listened to the person on the other end speak. "So, those other kids were active too? I figured whatever was going on wasn't over yet." He listened to the speaker, as he came to a stoplight. "They all accessed the same website at the same time? What was the website? I see…" Nishijima's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he listened. "The Jaenus scan came up with nothing huh? I guess it could be coincidence -" There was a laugh on the other end of the line, "no, I don't believe it either…" The car behind him honked loudly. Daigo blinked and looked up and saw the light had changed and continued through the intersection. "The kids are still fine right? I see, better than when they were first retrieved…yeah, another coincidence that they suddenly become more talkative and energetic after going on that website…scan it again, there's no way that this isn't part of everything…" Daigo turned a corner. "Look, I'm going to have to let you go, I'm nearly to my destination…" Daigo looked up at the apartment. "Yeah, she's still a little under the weather, I've been helping her…look, keep me appraised of anything you find…I'll talk to you later, yep, bye…"

Daigo closed his phone as he pulled into the parking garage. He parked and quickly walked across the street to the apartment complex. He showed his identification to the door man and continued to the elevator. He went up the thirteen floors and out the door into a corridor of doors. He walked to the third one and took a key from a key ring and unlocked the door. He opened the door. Maki was lying on the couch in the living room, staring at the television.

"How was it?" she asked almost robotically.

"Fine, though the kids don't like that we're still watching them…" Daigo said as he sat down. He looked over at Maki. "That Izumi kid is a pain…"

"He's a genius, they usually are." Maki said quietly.

"He's still getting access to the Digital World monitoring systems…" Daigo replied quietly. "He's going to get their hopes up. I'm afraid they'll do something stupid-"

"Yeah-" Maki replied quietly. She sat up and then stood, and then started clearing away the coffee table which until them was covered in litter from chips packets and newspaper. "Wouldn't want that to happen-"

"Look, in the end, we're not really out anything-" Daigo said quietly, as Maki walked to a small kitchenette and threw the garbage away in the trash can. "I mean we already-"

"I just don't want to talk about it." Maki said sharply.

"I know, but maybe you shou-"

"Or maybe not." Maki growled glaring at him. "When are you going to stop coming over anyways? I gave you that key for emergencies only! There's no reason for you to come here, it's not like I'm going to suddenly disappear anymore."

"Is that right?" Daigo asked quietly. "You quit your job…you don't just quit a semi-clandestine government agency…"

"I didn't have a reason to work for them anymore." Maki returned. She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you still there?"

"Because, someone has to protect those kids." Daigo returned. "And it may as well be us."

"Yes, we did such a marvelous job of that!" Maki returned. The woman shook her head and walked to the refrigerator. "Plus there's nothing to threaten them anymore. If the reset is working like we theorize, the digivices won't be compatible with the new portal systems…not for a long time yet…the barrier is probably at full functionality…nothing's coming here either…"

"The other world is evolving at an expedited rate." Daigo said quietly. "I heard the kids, they are making plans about a trip back…"

"The gate system is different than the world, it doesn't evolve like the world, it's still in its old format." Maki said quietly.

"That's why we need you to come back, Maki-" Daigo said quietly, "you understand the subtleties of this whole thing far better than any-"

"Because my brain was hijacked by the thing that makes the network." Maki sneered quietly, as she looked back at Daigo from the fridge. "I only worked for UNIT for one reason. To get the others back…now that I've seen the truth of what happened to them, I don't need to work there anymore…I got that kid killed for nothing. I couldn't even save any of them-"

"You couldn't have known." Daigo said quietly. "There is no way you could've-"

"It should've been obvious…" Maki said as she slammed the door of the fridge shut and leaned her head against the metal surface. "You know what the worst part about it is?"

"Maki-"

"If I hadn't listened to you…" Maki growled. "all those years ago if I hadn't listened to you… We should've went back, Daigo! We should've went back immediately!"

"We nearly died getting home! You were dying, Shakamon left you a dribbling mess! I couldn't just let you go back to that world!" Daigo said softly but sternly.

"But they were there-" Maki said as she lifted her head and looked to Daigo. "I could've dipped into Shakamon's mind and scooped them out, restored them, brought them back…." Maki clenched her fists. "But we got trapped here! All that time….we sat over here, growing up…. too much time passed…they got integrated into the system, their data got shredded, twisted and snarled…now they're gone…"

"That's why you need to be back at work, now." Daigo said quietly. "There's a kid in the system…somewhere, it may not be too late yet…you are so depressed that he died for no reason, but you said it yourself, he can be saved…you were right…we can fix-"

"There's no way to get to the Digital World-" Maki said shaking her head, "and I'll be damned if we are going to go the way we did last time…that was a onetime trick. And even if we could get to the Digital World, you'd have to find the kid, and extract the data and reconstitute the body…it's simply too much."

"You didn't think it was…" Daigo said.

"Yeah that was when I thought I could get direct access to Shakamon's mind…and even then…" Maki said quietly. "Shakamon's fixed whatever problem had her freaked out; we missed our chance…"

"I don't think it's over yet." Daigo said quietly. "Those kidnapped kids are doing things, and it doesn't smell right…plus maybe there's another way to restore the boy."

"Not my problem anymore-" Maki said quietly as she pushed away from the fridge and walked out of the kitchen to the front door of the apartment, opening it. "Remember, I'm a former agent of UNIT…which means I don't have to care anymore."

Daigo sighed quietly. He stood up and walked to the door. "Please just, think about it for a bit. Please?"

"I thought about it for fifteen years, I think that's long enough." Maki replied. Daigo sighed and walked out of the apartment. Maki closed the door behind him. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes.

888

"Hikari-" Ken said calmly, quietly to the closed door. He stood in the hallway of the Yagami apartment. Taichi was standing at the end of the hall watching as were Mr. and Mrs. Yagami. He blushed slightly. "Hikari, I'm going to come in…"

Ken reached up and grasped the door handle and turned it. He pushed and the door opened. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect on the other side. Hikari was sitting in her bed in yellow pajamas, her arms hugged around her knees. Mountains of tissues were heaped around her. She was clutching a framed picture. The room was only lit by the sunlight through the window. Ken swallowed slightly and gently closed the door behind him.

"Hikari, how have you been?" Ken started quietly. The girl looked up at him, quirking an eyebrow. Ken blushed slightly. "Right, sorry, that was…unfortunate." Ken sat gently down at the corner of the bed. "I know, that the others have been here, I know that you haven't really left this room since…well…since…" Ken sighed quietly and took a deep breath. "I know it's difficult, but we can't dwell…" Ken said quietly he closed his eyes and felt the hot trickle slice down his cheek. "We can't dwell on our losses. I've been where you are, when I lost my brother…my world shattered, and well then the Digital World happened…and that didn't help. I loved Daisuke, he was like a brother to me, I think I might have loved him as much as anyone else in the world; and I lost him and I lost Wormmon…at the same time, just like you and Gatomon…and part of me is scared too, that I'll do something horrible, but part of me fights that because I know Daisuke and Wormmon wouldn't want me to turn my back on everything I have now…" Ken sat quietly and then looked up at Hikari. The girl was holding out a tissue. Ken smiled and took it. "Thank you…" he dried his tears. "The worst thing that I ever did was dwell on Osamu's death…I blamed myself…and to be honest everything I did was trying to bring him back because I thought if I could bring him back it would make it better. Becoming the emperor, building Chimeramon…it drove me insane but Wormmon and Daisuke…brought me back. I can only hope that in the face of this that I can stand up to the truth of it and move forward especially now that it looks like the Digital World is regenerating." Ken took a breath and looked Hikari in the eyes, the girl had a confused look on her face. "You have to accept that they are-"

"He's not gone-" Hikari said quietly. Her voice was hoarse from lack of practice. She looked around and whispered to herself. "It wasn't all just a dream-"

"Hikari he is, they all are…" Ken said quietly. "I know it's hard to believe-"

"No, he came to me-" Hikari said quietly. Ken looked up and saw the girl close her eyes and furrow her brow. "In this dream, he came, and told me not to give up, not to quit believing that he's still there…"

"The Digital World was reinitialized, everything in it was deleted and scrubbed, and reset." Ken said shaking his head slowly.

"I saw him!" Hikari replied hoarsely.

"Those are dreams, they aren't-"

"THEY ARE!" Hikari shouted and then coughed as her voice caught itself she reached for a framed picture on her bed stand. "They are all still there…" Hikari showed Ken the picture. It was a photo of all of them on an old trolley in a park. "I can feel it…" Hikari said quietly as she hugged the photo to her chest. "I didn't believe it either, not at first I've had so many weird dreams but-"

"Hikari, Koushiro said-" Ken started.

"I don't care." Hikari said shaking her head. "We have to go back. Daisuke is there still, waiting for us. Our partners are there, waiting for us!"

"If this is true we need to tell everyone." Ken said quietly, not sure how far to indulge this conversation.

"The others- will think I'm just insane." Hikari said, looking away from Ken.

Ken reached out and gently grasped Hikari's hand. "No, I believe you, they will, too. I promise. But you have to come out and join the rest of the world. Can you do it?"

Hikari opened her eyes and looked at Ken and slowly nodded. Ken smiled and stood up slowly. Hikari followed him out of the room. Ken blushed as Mrs. Yagami rushed him and hugged him and then crushed her daughter in a massive hug.

"Good job, man…" Taichi whispered as he patted Ken on the back. "How'd you do it so fast?"

"I trust her when she says that he's not gone-" Ken said quietly, as he looked at Hikari.

"What?" Taichi said as he looked at Ken and then looked at Hikari. "Dude you can't-"

"With all we've seen, is it so impossible?" Ken said quietly. "Plus, Daisuke was always capable of the most impossible miracles…why not just one more…"

 **888**

 **AN: The Adventure advances…..**


	10. Reformation

**Reformation**

 **888**

The rumbles of the explosions filtered through the wooden cabin. Two figures pushed through the door. Flashes of light and a strand of smoke pushed itself in with the figures. One was leonine, a small cub with a barely started mane of fur on the top of its head; the other was more humanoid, but the clawed feet and hands and the wild, red hair gave away its non-human truth, along with the two ground down horns that barely poked from its head. The second figure was not more than the size of a child; its skin was reddish tan color. The lion cub turned to the second figure.

"Here, I have them here." the cub said as it padded towards a basket. The feline nudged the top of the basket opening the hatch revealing three eggs. "These were the ones I could get to before the attack started…"

The demonette of a child peered into the basket. His eyes fell upon two small devices next to one of the eggs. One was rectangular and gray the other was vaguely oval with a blue and white chassis surrounding a gray screen.

"What are those?" The tawny skinned demon asked.

"I am not sure, but they appeared in the bassinet with the blue egg…" the lion replied. "I have never seen anything like them before, not even Volcamon knew what they were…"

"Could they be connected to whoever is attacking us?" The demon asked.

"It doesn't matter now, I need you to take them, the island has fallen, it won't be long before those things are here…" the lion said, narrowing his eyes as its ears swiveled back to the sound of increasingly closer explosions. The lion looked up at the demon. "I have only known you for a short time, since you washed up on our shores but I have come to trust you. I am the caretaker of the babies born to this island, I am asking you now, take these eggs, flee this place. There is an island, not unlike this one on the far side of the world, called File Island, you will find a village, not unlike this one, there. These ones will be safe there…"

"Me…" The demon child asked pointing to himself with a clawed finger. "I can fight, I can stay here and help, you are the one that knows how to…"

"My disappearance will be noticed, if the attackers have come for the eggs and the babies they will search me out, undeniably, if any are to survive then I must stay here, and stand my ground, and fall…if necessary." the lion replied, closing its eyes. "It is my duty, it is my fate, it is the truth of my existence."

"But-" the demon started.

"Hurry!" The lion insisted. There was a loud explosion nearby, it rattled the cabin. The lion cub swallowed hard. "There is a false floor in the closet over there." The lion indicated a door on the far side of the room. "It leads to a tunnel that ends at a hidden bay on the far side of the island, there is a boat moored there."

"But we can-" the demon tried to insist.

"No, we can't!" the lion growled. He turned his head. "They are coming, I can hear them!"

The demon looked towards the door of the cabin. He could hear them as well. The electronic chanting. He looked down at the lion cub and then to the basket. He reached out and grabbed the handle and lifted the basket with the eggs and ran to the door. The lion nodded and the demon left the room.

The lion turned as the door to the cabin exploded off of its hinges. He growled the most menacing growl he could manage as a man walked into the room.

"How could you?" the lion growled as the man looked down at him, the man's hands clasped behind his back. His black robes flowed as the outside wind swirled into the cabin. The lion growled. "You were supposed to protect us!"

"I am protecting you, from yourselves…" the man said quietly. Two things glided in behind him. They were metallic and purple. They looked like floating spiders with tiny little tentacles vaguely flapping beneath them. A single electronic eye focused on the lion cub. The man took a deep breath as he looked around the cabin. "No eggs, no babies, yet here is the caretaker…interesting."

"What do you want?" the lion growled.

"You know what I search for, the eggs. The ones that are formed here. There are several specific ones I'm looking for." the man said as he looked down at the lion. "If you wish to make this easy, you will tell me where I may find them…"

"They aren't here!" the lion growled. "And even if they were I wouldn't hand them over to you!"

"I see then…" The man sighed quietly. "We're doing it the hard way then…"

The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. The two, floating, metallic spiders flew forward.

"Do not flee, do not defend yourself, resistance is useless!" the two spiders announced with metallic, soulless voices. "There is nothing to fear; the Gizmon will remove fear, the Gizmon will remove Attribute, Type and Level….you will become like us…"

Before the lion cub could respond the eyes of the two spiders glowed and a slicing beam of light stabbed through the cub's body. The little lion exploded into golden globs of data that the floating spiders sucked into small containers and then turned to the man.

"Locate the 7GDL subsection 1-7 eggs. Identify 7GDL subsection 1…collect it…the rest can be harvested." the man said with a tone that denoted boredom as he looked to the metallic spider things hovering in front of him. "Once you have retrieved subsection 1, return with it to the castle and make preparations for data transfer. Do you comprehend?"

"Command request is valid and understood, the hive network has updated all mission priorities to active drones and will execute command sequence immediately." the two metal beings replied and then hovered out of the cabin.

The man smiled slightly as he listened to the machines as they announced themselves to the world.

"Do not fear. We will remove fear and love and hate and joy and sadness, we will remove attributes, types and levels, you will join us, you will become like us, resistance is useless…"

888

"If what Hikari says is true we don't have much choice…" Sora said quietly.

The older digi-destined were sitting in an unused schoolroom after school. It had been a couple weeks since the wake. The auburn haired girl looked to the others and then looked to Taichi. Taichi didn't look back, his face frowning slightly.

"There's been weirder things-" Jyou said quietly. "I mean that whole thing with that Oikawa…"

"None the less-" Yamato started, the blonde looked up. "Are we really prepared to go back?" He looked to Koushiro. "Can we go back?"

"Well-" The cinnamon haired boy started. The other children looked up. The cinnamon haired boy looked directly at Mimi. "I don't want you getting your hopes up…"

"I thought you said you tried even up at the campsite?" Jyou said.

"I did…" Koushiro nodded. He looked up. "Things have changed though…in fact I noticed it the day of the wake…"

"Noticed what?" Mimi said clutching her hands together in front of her.

"Don't get excited!" Koushiro said lifting his hand. "It may not even be helpful, in fact it may just be frustrating…"

"Anything's better than nothing!" Mimi retorted. "Spill it!"

"Fine, but don't get excited!" Koushiro said with a warning tone. "I've been monitoring the Digital World and recently I noticed a oscillating fluctuation in the barrier between our worlds…"

"Oscillating fluctu-what's even that?" Mimi frowned.

"Basically every three days, at precisely twelve fifty-two PM the digital gate opens…very slightly before slamming shut about three minutes later…" Koushiro said squinting and pinching his fingers together as he said 'very slightly'. "When I noticed it I went back and looked at the data stream, it started on the day of the wake…and has happened four times since. The fluctuations start and it takes about three days for the gate to be barely cracked open and then almost instantaneously it shuts…"

"What's…what's causing it?" Jyou asked.

"I have no idea." Koushiro said. "I mean it's not like I can just shuttle over to a UNIT lab and do some kind of probe…I'm working from my home computer."

"It's just the timing…" Jyou started and looked over to Taichi.

The brunette's frown seemed to deepen.

"I know you're skeptical but what if it's true, Tai?" Sora asked.

"We know that digimon can manifest here even though they-" Yamato started.

"Once, one digimon did in a very peculiar set of circumstances, and then never again…" Taichi said quietly. He looked up at Yamato. "I don't want to get Kari over-excited chasing ghosts."

"Ken believes her…" Mimi said. "And the others…"

"They're kids and Daisuke is-was they're leader, they don't want to believe that he's-" Taichi stopped and took a deep breath, "that he's gone."

"After all we've seen though-" Jyou said. "Things work differently in the Digital World…"

"Not this differently and Daisuke isn't a digimon." Taichi said gruffly.

"But he might have found a way to survive." Mimi said, sitting up and looking at Taichi. "Maybe he's trapped between this world and the other, maybe he's fighting to open the gate to get back…maybe-"

"Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe some weird Digital World hiccup is happening and everyone wants it to be Daisuke sending us a message or trying to give us a way back into the Digital World." Taichi growled, his voice rising in cadence to almost a shout. "Chances are it's just a hiccup…we all have to accept that reality!"

"If he's out there, and we just ignore him…" Mimi started, tears were forming in her eyes. "Why can't you just hope that it's him, just for us!?"

"Because we have to grow up…didn't we learn anything from the dragons, from what happened with Daisuke…Destiny gave up on us, we're just kids…nothing special…not anymore." Taichi said firmly.

Mimi turned and ran out of the room, sniffles and hiccups echoing from the hall. Sora stood up and followed her but not before giving Taichi a glare.

"Dude, I understand you're worried for Hikari, but that was kind of harsh." Yamato said quietly looking over to the brunette.

"Yeah you were just as excited as we were when Koushiro said the Digital World had returned-" Jyou said.

"Yeah but look at what's happened, all Kari talks about is finding Daisuke…" Taichi said, the brunette looked up. "When, if we get over there and we don't find him, it's going to break her heart…and what if we get over there and are trapped again…a broken heart could get her or all of us killed."

"And if we go over there and Daisuke has the picnic table waiting for us?" Jyou asked.

Taichi's eyes flicked up to Jyou and his eyebrows narrowed. "Do you really believe that?"

"Well, I don't know but it's just as likely as-" Jyou started.

"No it isn't, the Digital World has never been so simple or kind." Taichi said quietly. "Let's say he is the one prying the gate open…what if he's trapped between this world and is the hitch that keeps causing these 'oscillating fluctuations'…what kind of shape will he be in hmm? And we still can't get to the Digital World, the D-3s don't work, so all of this hope is just…pointless!"

Taichi, Jyou and Yamato looked over to Koushiro. The cinnamon-haired boy blushed slightly and then lifted his closed hand to his mouth and coughed quietly.

"There's another thing…" Koushiro said timidly, as he swallowed slightly. "Something I didn't want to say with Mimi around…" Koushiro took a deep breath. "The first gate events lasted ten minutes, over the course of the last two weeks the moment of prying has dissolved to three minutes, the fluctuations are getting weaker…"

"Which means?" Jyou asked.

"That whatever is cracking open the gate, is weakening and the gate is slowly going to win…" Taichi said, leaning back. "How long?"

"Well, in two weeks, the fluctuations had degraded by seventy percent, at this rate, in two weeks' time the period of opening will be less than a minute…which if my models are right, wouldn't be enough time to do what I think we'd need to do to get into the Digital World."

"This is what I'm talking about.." Taichi said quietly lifting his hand towards Koushiro.

"So what? We're just going to ignore this?" Jyou asked, looking at Taichi. "I can't believe you'd be so afraid to ignore this? To just give in and quit? Are you really that scared?"

Taichi frowned and his hand balled up as he glared at Jyou. The bespectacled, older boy didn't flinch like he would've a few years ago. Taichi looked down at the ground and unclenched his fists.

"We can't just sit back and let this slip through our fingers." Yamato said calmly, the blonde grabbed Taichi's hand. "I can't believe you don't want to go. Even if you think this stuff with Daisuke is just a bunch of ghost stories, you can't want to just grow up…and give up on the Digital World, on Agumon…"

Taichi closed his eyes and growled. Tears beaded at the corners of his eyes. He sat forward, still holding Yamato's hand and turned his head to Koushiro.

"What would it involve to get over there?" Taichi said as he looked past Yamato to Koushiro.

"Well, the idea is that we use the D-3s at precisely the moment that the gate aperture is at its widest…to act as a crowbar to force the gate open." Koushiro said, he rubbed his chin. "The gate is basically acting like a broken automatic door, something is tripping its sensor, but just as the door starts to open a failsafe circuit's tripped and it slams shut. If we can send a digivice signal into the aperture it'd be like putting a crowbar in, holding the gate open for us to proceed through."

"I thought you said the digi-ports weren't operational…" Jyou said, as he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, we'd have to go up to the campground, and it would require all of us…" Koushiro said. "A single digivice wouldn't have the power to keep the gate open, it'd take us all…"

"That shouldn't be hard to arrange." Yamato said smiling, he still was holding Taichi's hand. "When's the next opening?"

"Saturday but…" Koushiro took a deep breath.

"But- what?" Jyou grumbled looking at Koushiro.

"Well, we're going to need some equipment…" Koushiro said quietly. "I'll need some specialized amplifiers and transmitters to boost our signals…"

"I've got amplifiers and we can pick up some antennas at like an electronics shop…" Yamato said smiling. "Stop acting like everything is a lethal flaw…"

"No, you see, while I appreciate the sentiment, we need specialized equipment; the kind of equipment designed to make contact with the Digital World with brute force…the kind of equipment that takes months to build, and potentially years to calibrate…" Koushiro said, shaking his head. "The kind of equipment that really is only available in one place…"

"Well, that's us not going to the Digital World…" Jyou sighed as he slumped down into a chair.

"Why didn't you start with that!?" Yamato grunted.

"I did say 'don't get your hopes up'." Koushiro returned a little annoyed. "We'd have to get into UNIT and acquire the equipment from one of the labs. I know where it is, for what it's worth, I was using it to test my digimon server…"

"Yeah but knowing where it is, and being able to reach it are two different things aren't they?" Jyou grunted.

"How big is this equipment?" Taichi asked.

"Not big; the size of a modem and a wi-fi box." Koushiro said.

"So if we could get in, we could get it out pretty easily…" Taichi said.

"Well you're saying that like getting in is easy!" Jyou yelped as he looked at Taichi.

"Do you want to go to the Digital World or not?" Taichi asked, as his dark brown eyes looked over to Jyou. His hand tightly gripping Yamato's.

"Do you?" Yamato asked, smiling as his blue eyes shimmered in the fluorescent light.

"If we get over there, we'll at least find our partners, we'll deal with the Daisuke stuff when it comes." Taichi said resignedly. He shook his head. "If he has managed to pull this off…"

"He'll be even more unbearable." Yamato said smiling.

"We still are talking about breaking into a secret international intelligence agency building, filled with guys with guns…" Jyou said trying to point out the obvious. "Which we have no legal access to!"

"Don't you still have a key card or something?" Taichi asked as he looked over to Koushiro.

"They'd have revoked my privileges by now, plus the lab has a its own code entry system…" Koushiro said quietly. "However, I am still in contact with the researchers…Dr. Schmidt may just be sympathetic…I might be able to get us in on a pretense. Getting past the front door is like ninety percent of the battle…the other ten is getting into the lab…"

"So you're saying it isn't impossible…" Yamato said.

"I'll have to think about it for a bit…but if we can get inside, I think I can get into the lab…" Koushiro said.

"We don't have much time-" Taichi replied as he stood up. "I'm going to go tell the girls, and then I'll tell the others. So we can get things coordinated for Saturday. We need that equipment by Friday at the latest…if we don't have it we don't go, got it?"

Koushiro nodded quietly.

"Right then…I guess we're going to do this?" Taichi said as he looked for reassurance from the other boys. He nodded mostly to himself and then left the room.

"We're totally going to get thrown into some kind of military prison camp; aren't we?" Jyou whimpered and then sighed. "At least, I won't have to worry about college entrance exams anymore…"

888

"Thank you, Dr. Schmidt-" Koushiro said as he walked behind the short man in a dark brown jacket. The man walked slowly his cane bracing every step. The man turned and smiled and inclined his head. His brown hair curling messily from under his beige Panama hat. "I know it's terribly inconvenient for you…"

"Winnie, was against it," The man said his voice had a slightly nasally Scottish tone to it, "but Winnie is against many different things. I told it was silly considering your considerable contributions, and your sterrrrling rrrecord. Plus we've all forgotten some personal effects in the past, and no one's used your office, it would be horrible of us to deny you."

"Yeah-" Koushiro said quietly. "It isn't many things you know. Just a couple of pictures and a some knick knacks…"

Koushiro looked over to Taichi. "Yeah, thanks for letting us come and help."

"Yeah it's really cool." Yamato said, smiling a little too broadly.

"I hope we didn't get you in too much trouble?" Jyou added clumsily as he blushed slightly. Taichi and Yamato shot him glares.

The four boys were still wearing their school uniforms save for Yamato had changed from the dress pants to a pair of jeans, which Taichi had ribbed him about for making him look too much like a ruffian.

"Trouble? No, I shouldn't think so, things have been terribly quiet since well, the incident." Dr. Schmidt said quietly. "Not much to do, there's been no incursions, no portals, quite frankly it's getting quite boring. I had to let Ace go back to the university laboratories in Glasgow, to complete her thesis, much to her displeasure. I dare say my Dean of Research will be expecting me back if things don't start heating up."

Dr. Schmidt stopped in front of a large gray building and walked up the steps, the boys following behind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic card and swiped it; there was a pleasant beep followed by a flash of green light and a click. Dr. Schmidt then opened the door and waved the boys ahead of him. Within the door was a set of turnstiles and a hulking man in a black suit, wearing sunglasses, a earpiece was in his ear. The man looked down at the gaggle of people entering the building suspiciously.

"They're with me, Sasuke." Dr. Schmidt said tipping his hat to the man. The man still appraised the four boys as they sidled through his shadow. One of the man's nostrils flared as if he smelled something devious in the works and then grunted, and turned his attention back to the doors. The tip of Dr. Schmidt's umbrella clacked on the floor tiling. Dr. Schmidt turned and looked back to the four boys. "He's been grumpy recently; his wife's pregnant, poor lad's not gotten any sleep in a week…"

"Oh, well, good luck then…" Jyou said turning back to the guard. The guard didn't respond any more than to turn and give him a glare through the black glasses.

"Right then, I think we're this way." Dr. Schmidt said as he pointed his umbrella towards a hallway.

They walked in relatively silence to the door of what had been Koushiro's office. Dr. Schmidt took out a key and put it in the lock of the door; as he opened the door Koushiro tripped slightly bumping into him. The two staggered until Yamato caught them, and they stabilized.

"I'm so sorry," Koushiro pleaded as he bowed to Dr. Schmidt.

"No worries, no injuries." Dr. Schmidt said as he led the boys into the room.

The process of the search was a quick business, the things on the list were gathered quickly and Dr. Schmidt was walking them back towards the exit, when all of a sudden Yamato started to fidget. The blonde stepped uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Dr. Schmidt…" Yamato grumbled quietly. Taichi and Jyou stopped as did Dr. Schmidt and Koushiro. They looked to Yamato who looked terribly uncomfortable and frankly embarrassed as beads of sweat formed on his brow. He hefted the bag he was carrying higher on his shoulder. "I hate to slow things down but…I have to use the restroom-"

"Hmm?" Dr. Schmidt looked at the boy and nodded slightly. "Yes, I believe there's one down the hall just before the labs…"

"Thanks…" Yamato said. as he turned and ran down the hall.

"Doesn't he want us to hold the bag?" Dr. Schmidt as he watched the boy go.

"Oh, jeesh I didn't even think to ask-" Koushiro said, frantically. The cinnamon haired boy looked to the others. The other two boys waffled slightly as Dr. Schmidt watched them a furrow forming on his brow. Koushiro then jumped up. "Dr. Schmidt, have you seen the new Klein Bottle configurations being proposed out of Switzerland!?"

"Oh, pah, the Swiss-" Dr. Schmidt grumbled. "Next thing you'll have is them saying they can put an entire universe in one-"

"Yeah, nuts, right, crazy Swiss, I mean they put holes in their cheese, right?" Taichi offered as he looked over to Jyou who simply shook his head.

888

Yamato rushed to the bathroom. He could hardly believe this was working. He reached into his jeans' pocket and pulled out the ID card.

"Who'd have guessed Koushiro dabbled in magic…" Yamato said to himself as he remembered Koushiro slipping the card into his hand during the 'accident' in front of his office.

Yamato took out a sheet of paper and looked at it. There was a room number, and two pictures. Yamato rushed past the restroom to a series of heavy metal doors. There was a card scanner that Yamato immediately swiped the card through. The door unlocked and he slipped in and cautiously proceeded forward. Dr. Schmidt was right it was very quiet. He ran to the door with the number written on the piece of paper and swiped Dr. Schmidt's card again.

He opened the door and went in. The room within was lined with computer terminals but the room itself was dark, only lit by the various blinking lights. He looked at the pictures on the paper and then found the two objects. One looked like an ethernet box, the other was a similarly small, rectangular black box. He quickly disconnected the boxes and slipped them into the duffle bag he was carrying. He turned looked around himself and then ran to the door. He opened the door and made to run out just as he ran into the chest of Mr. Nishijima, who was standing there with his arms crossed.

"Hiya, teach…fancy meeting you here…" Yamato gulped as he looked up at the frowning face of Mr. Nishijima. The older man's arms were crossed over his chest. Yamato turned to run only to see a few more men in black walking towards him.

"HEY!" Taichi's voice yelped. Yamato looked further to see Taichi, Koushiro and Jyou being pushed and dragged by another group of guards.

"I knew this was going too smoothly-" grumbled Jyou as he was being directed towards Mr. Nishijima.

Mr. Nishijima snapped his fingers and the guards deposited the three other boys with Yamato next to him. Mr. Nishijima then opened his hand and Yamato limply deposited Dr. Schmidt's key card in his palm. Mr. Nishijima pocketed the card quickly.

"You lot come with me-" Mr. Nishijima said tersely as he glared at the boys and pointed down the hallway.

888

An egg floated in a tube, suspended in some green liquid. The man who wasn't, stood there admiring the egg, a white ovoid with a golden, double-branched Y insignia on it. He turned to a metallic spider.

"Commence the engorgement-" the man said. "Feed all the harvested data into this egg."

The metallic spider twisted in the air and hovered off into the darkness. The man leaned in and looked at the egg.

"Remarkable how intricate this creation is-" the man said quietly. Something caught his attention and he saw the reflection. "Oh, you already know what is going to happen, hmm?"

A smirk played across the man's lips. Small little golden bits of confetti drifted into the tube and were drawn into the egg. The man leaned in and his forehead pressed against the cold glass.

"You all thought you were so clever, eliminate the digimon that could do what I wanted, destroy them, delete them…but all I had to do was spark a crisis so severe as to require a reset-" the man whispered against the glass, "and you played straight into my hands…and soon I'll have exactly what I want."

888

"Are you four insane!?" Mr. Nishijima shouted. The four boys flinched. Yamato, Taichi and Koushiro double flinched as they had never seen Mr. Nishijima angry, even when Katsuo's gang covered his desk in cling film which made it impossible for him to open any of the drawers.

"It's just-" Koushiro started.

"What?" Mr. Nishijima asked, it was more of a threat than a question.

"We need the equipment." Koushiro said impotently. "We need it to get back-"

"Back to the Digital World, sir." Yamato said sitting up straight. "We believe our friend is still alive, that he survived. We need to go back, to retrieve him."

"So you're opening gambit was to steal the equipment?" Mr. Nishijima growled.

"We couldn't exactly ask, could we?" Jyou said, swallowing as Mr. Nishijima's eyes flicked towards him.

"You didn't even try to-" Mr. Nishijima grumbled putting his fingers to his temple. "You realize the kind of trouble you could be in!? Breaking into a secure laboratory is bad enough, but then you steal equipment from a military laboratory…"

"Technically we didn't break in, we were invited by someone inside…" Koushiro stated quietly.

"And we were actually just going to borrow the equipment-" Jyou added. Nishijima flicked a look at him. Jyou gulped. "We-we always intended to return it…"

Mr. Nishijima tilted his head and looked at Koushiro Jyou as if the boys had just vomited upon themselves.

"INTERPOL won't care, the Japanese government won't care, the United Nations won't care if you got gold embossed invitations and brought it back with bells tied on. Since you-" Mr. Nishijima replied calmly and then slammed his hands on the table and shouted straight in Koushiro's face and then glared at Jyou, and then he shouted, "-STOLE EQUIPMENT FROM A SECURE MILITARY LABORATORY!"

"Sir, we're sorry, but if we could run the risk of you guys saying 'no'." Taichi said as he recomposed himself from shrinking back from Mr. Nishijima. "If we had asked, and you had said 'no' we'd have never been able to get as close as we did-"

"We saw you coming from the moment that you contacted Dr. Schmidt. We have everything on camera for crying out loud!" Nishijima replied pinching his forehead between his eyes. He shook his head. "I hoped beyond hope that it was innocent, but now I have to explain to Brigadier Bambera how four high school kids broke into a secured military laboratory…and also try and talk her down from having the four of you locked up on one of the secret military prisons we have on the moon…"

"Wait…you have those?" Jyou gulped as he looked to Nishijima.

"That's not the point, Jyou-" Taichi hissed out of the corner of his mouth.

"We were clearly desperate…" Yamato said quietly. "If we could've done it without doing this we'd most certainly would have-"

"You have to have seen the oscillations-" Koushiro pleaded. "You've also seen that the oscillations are getting smaller. We can wedge open a portal, we can get to the Digital World and retrieve Daisuke. I know it. But we have to act fast, our window is closing…"

"And if this works and the gate slams shut? Then you'll all be trapped there?" Nishijima asked, glaring at Koushiro. "What am I supposed to tell people then? Hmm? Eleven more kids disappeared into the ether, no explanation?"

"It's not like this isn't how this all started in the first place-" Jyou said, adjusting his glasses. "We had no control over it the first time…I think at least this time it'd be planned so we can make supplies and preparations…"

"Right, and if Mr. Izumi's plan works, and the gate opens but it works too well and the gate gets stuck open? And all of a sudden we have digimon wandering around all over the place and no Digi-destined to deal with them?" Mr. Nishijima quizzed, glaring at the boys. He shook his head and grabbed a chair and sat down on the other side of the table the boys were sat at.

"You have UNIT…" Taichi said quietly. "You guys shot DORUghoramon in the face…"

"Thanks for that, by the way-" Jyou said quietly. He shrunk back as Mr. Nishijima glared at him. "I just…I just couldn't remember if I had thanked you two years ago…"

"It's a matter of getting our friend back." Yamato said quietly. "If we can get Daisuke Motomiya back, what kind of victory would that be for you guys?"

"It's the kind of miracle that research funding is made of…" Koushiro stated as he looked into Mr. Nishijima's eyes.

"We're going over there, one way or another…" Taichi said firmly. The brunette's brown eyes glared at Mr. Nishijima. "That world is as much a part of us as we were a part of it, and if Daisuke has survived, and is there, don't think you can scare me with a little prison, on the moon or anywhere." Taichi reached down and put a red D-3 on the table. "I think you know well enough that we'll do something even more stupid and reckless without the equipment…something might crack the skin of the Earth open." Taichi narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips. "Now what do you think the Brigadier would say if we did that instead?"

"Damn stupid kids…" Nishijima growled. "You realize how impossible this is?"

"We're more than a little aware…" Jyou said as he nervously fidgeted, he took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses and then looked sternly forward. "But Daisuke's one of our own. If things were reversed, he'd already be there, we owe him the same response…."

"You have to know deep down inside, that if UNIT can take the credit for saving a kid from the Digital World, that you'd be able to leverage that into real capital…" Koushiro said, as he folded his hands together on the table in front of him. "But if you let the seal go one hundred percent and the Digital World gets completely cut off from us, this entire establishment disappears into cost saving smoke…we need to know what's happening over there. No better way to know than to go over there, and the twelve Chosen Ones are the most qualified candidates to go…you know this."

"Daisuke's our friend, if anyone is going to save him it should be us." Yamato said, the blonde looked up at Mr. Nishijima. "We're sorry for taking a drastic step, but it was necessary, and you know it."

"When's the next oscillation maximum?" Mr. Nishijima said finally.

"This Saturday 12:52 PM…" Koushiro replied from rote memory.

"You get ONE chance at this-" Mr. Nishijima said through gritted teeth. "So you better hope that you get into the Digital World, because if you don't you can sure as hell believe we'll be on you like dung beetles on shit." Mr. Nishijima pointed at the boys. "There won't be one minute we won't have eyes on you, at school, on your dates, at home, in your bedrooms, in the showers…we'll always have eyes on you. Got it?"

"So more of the same then…" Jyou grumbled slightly.

"WHAT?" Mr. Nishijima growled loudly, his eyes flaring towards Jyou.

"No-nothing…" Jyou whimpered.

"I don't want to see you within three blocks of his building ever again…" Mr. Nishijima said. "Do you hear me!?"

"Yessir!" the four boys said sharply.

"I'll contact you about Saturday." Mr. Nishijima growled. He lifted his hand and pointed to the door, and as he did a guard opened it. "Now go home…I'll deal with things here…"

The boys filed out of the room. As they did Koushiro leaned in close to Taichi. "'Crack the skin of the Earth'?"

"Shh, it sounded good-" Taichi hissed.

Mr. Nishijima shook his head and turned to a window behind him. The door of the room closed and a light turned on, illuminating another room behind the window. Brigadier Bambera and Dr. Schmidt were standing on the other side.

"See I told you the oscillations were something-" Dr. Schmidt said, nodding.

"None the less, we're rewarding them for a very grave crime-" the female brigadier said as she glared at the door the boys had left through.

"Ah, Winnie, they're just kids…" Dr. Schmidt retorted. "Boys will be-"

"Trust me, I know-" The brigadier said as she looked over to Mr. Nishijima. He didn't meet her eyes. The brigadier turned to leave. "They will be your responsibility of course, Mr. Nishijima."

"Yes, ma'am." Mr. Nishijima said straightening up as the brigadier left his sight.

Dr. Schmidt sighed slightly and looked over to Mr. Nishijima. "How is Ms. Himekawa?"

"Alive-" Mr. Nishijima said quietly.

888

Maki looked out of the window of her apartment. Half of the reason she chose this apartment was for the view of the bay. The other half being that part of that view overlooked the scene of the 'bombing' of the Hikarigaoka apartments. She half chuckled at the thought of being so naïve as to thinking that it had been a bombing, what bomb left massive dinosaur footprints? Even that mad fool that hung out with that police officer knew it wasn't possibly a bombing.

Part of her had always hoped maybe when the 'bombing' had happened that it was a sign. A sign that the others could come back. Now though she knew the truth, now she knew that it was in fact a sign that it was far too late. She narrowed her eyes as she heard her doorbell ring. She pursed her lips. She knew who it was.

She walked to the door and unlocked the door and opened it. He walked into the apartment bedraggled and harried. His hair was unkempt and his jacket collar ruffled.

"You will not believe what they tried to do!" He said without even saying hello.

She knew what he meant when he said 'they' it was the only 'they' he talked about, at least without reference. His dark hair was mussed and his boyish face was scrunched up into its most thorough attempt at looking adult it could muster. He dropped down upon the couch in the middle of her living room.

"They nearly blew up the world?" She asked sardonically as she found one of the stools that were lined along her kitchen counter that separated her kitchenette from the rest of her apartment.

"They used Dr. Schmidt, and walked bold as brass into the UNIT laboratory building, and tried to steal a signal amplifier and that network transmitter we have attuned to the Digital World!" Daigo replied as if he hadn't heard her response.

"Only that?" Maki said sighing. "I'm sure Brass Balls Bambera wasn't happy…"

"Actually she was surprisingly calm about it…" Daigo said as he laid his head back, "but what were they thinking!?"

"You really have to ask?" Maki said.

"I know, and that's what it is.." Daigo shook his head. "They think they can wedge a gate open…they want to go and retrieve the Motomiya kid…"

"And you informed them that they can't." Maki said. Daigo looked up at Maki and then away. Maki narrowed her eyes. "You told them 'no'…right?"

"Bambera thinks-" Daigo started.

"Forget Bambera!" Maki cut him off and stood up.

"Look, it's different this time, they have time, they're making preparations, they have a plan, there are eleven of them for crying out loud, and…" Daigo looked up at Maki as she glared over him.

"And it's not us!" Maki growled and turned her back on Daigo.

"We almost died, you were hospitalized…we were not in any condition to go but these kids…" Daigo tried.

"You're willing to risk someone else's life, but when it's your own…even for your friends…you can't even…" Maki growled, and glared at Daigo. "And you held that crest…."

"It's not like that!" Daigo retorted standing up, he grabbed Maki by the shoulders and spun her around. "I had to protect the friend I had left from herself. You don't think I didn't want to go just as bad as you…but I had to be the brave one that said 'no' when everything in me wanted to scream 'yes!'. Because I knew, I knew it would get us killed. It took so much not to be that person today. Those kids, the looks on their face, the things they said, sounded just like you. Only this time, it was different…"

"Because it isn't you going!" Maki shouted.

"No, because it isn't you…" Daigo returned.

"So you hold some kids in higher concern than me and your friends?" Maki asked acidly.

"It's different these kids have a network, they have each other, you know what that world is like…" Daigo said quietly. "If anyone has a chance of surviving it's them. We didn't have a chance, there wasn't anyone…you weren't awake for what happened after the dragons were sealed, when the darkness came…when our partners used the last of their energy to send us home and repel the attacks of the darkness's henchmen. If we had gone back they'd have killed us as soon as we hit the ground. I know you knew that deep down, and I knew that you didn't care. I knew then like I know now, that you would have sacrificed anything to fix what had happened, or worse, sacrificed the same even if it wouldn't have fixed it, just to escape the guilt. I had to be the one with the courage to deny you that, even though it meant hurting you and making you resent me, and hate me."

"So you told the kids they could go?" Maki asked, still glaring at Daigo.

"Dr. Schmidt thinks the Izumi kid's plan could work…" Daigo admitted. "I think they could actually do it, too. If I can save that kid, I'm going to do what I can to try to."

"That's definitely a change of opinion-" Maki said soberly, but it was the kind of sober that came with a shattered bottle in one's hand.

"I know." Daigo said. "I would like to think your opinion has changed as well."

"I have no reason to return to UNIT, Daigo." Maki said, curtly.

"I know, but I wasn't talking about that." Daigo said quietly. "These kids, they need all the moral support they can get…"

"And you think _I_ can provide it?" Maki said incredulously as she turned away from Daigo.

"Yes." Daigo replied flatly.

Maki scoffed and looked at him. His face was fierce looking, yet boyish, like a child trying to act serious and tough to an adult. It was almost pathetic in its attempt.

"The last thing those kids need, is me…" Maki said quietly. "If you remember the last time I was involved with them, one of them didn't come home."

"They don't blame you for that-" Daigo replied. "If anything they are worried about you because of it."

"They should be worrying about themselves." Maki said quietly. "Wedging the gate open? They'll either blow us all up or trap themselves in the Digital World…"

"Which is why they need someone who's weighed those options in her head, in their corner." Daigo said quietly. "They see me as a babysitter…someone that keeps them following 'the rules'. You're that crazy lady that got them into the Digital World when everyone else told them 'no'…"

Maki closed her eyes and sat at her kitchen counter. "I don't think they need a crazy woman in their corner…"

"I disagree…" Daigo said. He walked towards the door of the apartment. "The operation is at 12:52 Saturday afternoon at the beta site in the mountains…I'll leave it to you…"

Daigo left the apartment. Maki sat there and looked back to the window over the bay. She stood up and walked into a short hallway that led to her bedroom. She walked across the darkened bedroom to a closet. She opened the wicker sliding door and reached up and pulled down a small box. She opened the box and pulled aside the tissue paper inside, revealing a small device, with a blank grayish-green screen. It was vaguely pinkish-white, with a small key chain attached to it. If anyone else had seen it, they'd have thought it was a classic tamagotchi, but Maki looked at it as if it were a lock of hair from a long-dead, old friend. She closed her eyes and closed the box and put it back up on the closet shelf, closing the closet and leaned against the door.

888

Jyou's brother, Shin, drove them up the mountain road to the campground in a van that Yamato's dad had let them borrow. A black van was already there. Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima were standing there in long coats. Taichi and Yamato jumped out and helped the girls down. Ken and Koushiro walked over to the two men from UNIT. Takeru hopped out next to Taichi and helped Iori down. Jyou and Shin were already unloading the duffles with supplies. The others were getting their own personal affects out of the van.

The kids started to file in closer to where Koushiro and Ken were talking with Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima.

"Are you very sure?" Taichi heard Ken ask.

"As sure as I can be…" Koushiro said with a level of assurance that seemed little uncomforting.

"Sure about what?" Jyou asked as he already started to look unsure.

"I think this digi-port program I've altered will communicate with the gate…" Koushiro said with a smile. "There's no way to actually test it but all the simulations suggest it should work…"

"Well, that sounds-" Shin started.

"The simulations are modeled on a system that does not currently exist." Ken said with a frown.

"It's the best data model we have." Koushiro retorted. "We have to assume that the basic structure of the gate is the same…"

"Do we?" Jyou asked in a wheedling tone.

"Wait, so what's the worst case scenario for us if it doesn't work right?" Miyako asked as she pushed forward.

"Either the gate won't open at all…" Koushiro said.

"Or we'll reverse the polarity of all the neutrons in the general area of the campground-" Ken stated, narrowing his eyes.

"Which means flipping all the quark charges that compose said neutrons-" Dr. Schmidt added.

"Turning said quarks and, by extension, the neutrons they make up into anti-quarks and anti-neutrons; creating a world shaking matter-antimatter annihilation reaction-" Mr. Nishijima said crossing his arms over his chest. He looked to Dr. Schmidt. "Are you certain this is safe?"

"Fairly, far more likely the gate will simply not even respond." Dr. Schmidt said waving his hand.

"What do we have to do?" Taichi said as he closed his eyes and tried not to imagine what a 'matter-antimatter annihilation reaction' looked like, largely because he didn't know what half of those things were and less largely because he knew those word combinations were bad; he'd seen Star Trek; there were lots of klaxons, red lights and steam when those words were spoken together.

"Right, well, this won't be that alien, I think." Koushiro said quietly. "Basically when the oscillation reaches its maximum we point our D-3s at the screen and activate the digi-port. The digi-port program is just a dummy program used to translate the D-3 signals through the amplifier which will then pump them out through the transmitter activating the gate, hopefully…"

"So just like when we used to just go back and forth." Mimi said smiling as she hugged her pink duffle bag close to her.

"Well, except we won't jump into the digi-port…" Koushiro said. He looked up. "If it works, the gate will open, it'll be more like when we first went to the Digital World…"

"We'll get sucked into the sky?" Sora asked.

"Yeah…" Koushiro said almost apologetically.

"Fun-" Jyou sighed. He turned to Shin. "Shin, go get that helmet in the van!"

"Talking of the maximum…" Yamato said as he looked at his watch. "Shouldn't we be…you know…getting into position?"

"Hmm?" Koushiro said, looked at his cell phone. "Oh, my yes…everyone quickly quickly…"

The eleven kids barreled together closely and looked at the computer screen. They watched as the clock in the bottom corner clipped over from 12:50 to 12:51. Koushiro held up his arm.

"I hope everyone went to the bathroom-" Takeru joked quietly but no one responded.

Hikari held her breath as the final two flashed into existence. Koushiro dropped his arm. The eleven kids lifted their D-3s.

"Digi-port OPEN!" the kids shouted in unison.

Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima backed away as the computer screen flared to life. There was a lot of buzzing and clicking. The kids looked up at the sky. There was a cold breeze. Clouds piled in from the horizon, twisting and swirling. There were flashes of lightning that glowed within the clouds.

"Is it working?" Iori shouted.

"Something's not right!" shouted Koushiro. "It's trying to open, but it's not enough…"

"Come on!" Shouted Yamato as he strained his arm forward. "OPEN!"

"Please!" Hikari shouted as she stepped forward out of the group. "I know you can hear us, Daisuke! Open the gate!"

"I can try to pump up the amplifier!" Dr. Schmidt offered over the wind.

"Not without shutting down the entire system!" Koushiro shook his head. "Come on….we're nearly there…we need just a little…."

The car brakes screeched. The kids looked up to see a small car skid to a stop in the drive of the campground. They squinted their eyes as they watched Ms. Himekawa push herself out of the car. The woman ran towards them. Mr. Nishijima ran towards her but she ran past him straight to the kids.

She was holding something in cupped in her hands. The lightning flashed. The thunder rumbled distantly. The wind tossed her auburn hair across her face. She brought her hands up to her face and whispered something that no one heard into her hands and then lifted her hand up. A small key chain fell from her palm. The kids only saw a little thing, tiny, compared to the D-3s even compared to the older kids' digivices.

"OPEN THE GATE!" Ms. Himekawa shouted as she pointed the small machine towards the sky.

Light erupted down from the sky. The D-3s burned in the children's hands. Ms. Himekawa grunted loudly as the small device in her hand exploded in a burst of fire. The children were enveloped in the light as it dropped down upon them and they were slowly lifted, rising towards a world revealed within the light.

888

Miyako grunted loudly, rubbing her head, feeling the gritty sand rubbing against her skin as the particles fell out of her hair. She stood up. She was still wearing the clothes she was wearing in the Human World. She looked over and saw Iori, he was standing with Takeru and the other boys. Kari was with Sora and Mimi and Miyako wandered over towards them.

"Did it work?" Miyako asked, and then was half glad that Daisuke was gone, because it was obvious that it had, and he'd have had a field day with that. Surrounding them were herds of glass telephone booths.

"Yes-" Sora said, as she hiked her backpack onto her back.

"So…now what?" Iori asked politely though his eyes suggested that he'd assumed this would be where all this would fall apart.

"Well…" Taichi said as he walked out from the group. "I guess…we go…"

Taichi sort of turned back and forth and looked up and down the beach. Then there was a light giggling in the distance. The children turned and in the distance near a large beach towel that had seemingly been spread out by an rocky outcropping they saw them, round, pudgy balls of life. All of them slightly different; one just little dumplings with tassel-like ears, another a dumpling with a horn, one with fringed ears, another a four-legged dumpling with insanely large teeth, a cat-like dumpling, a dumpling that had a leaf on its head, one that looked like a flower, another that looked like a Pacman ghost, one that was imbedded in a pine cone, one that looked like a hovering seal, one that looked like a blue, doughy dragon…. Miyako started to well up. She could feel the tears streaking down her cheeks as she saw the pink one that looked like a little dumpling bird, with a feather held erect on its head. She ran towards Poromon, just as the others had towards the little digimon. All of them. And the little digimon for all the excitement had to seeing them, responded with a loud terrified scream and immediately, reflexively took several bounding bounces backwards and yelped spewing painless bubbles towards the children.

"Who….who are you?" the doughy, blue dragon asked.

"Indeed, who are you?" A deeper voice asked from behind the children. Miyako turned and gasped. It was a reddish skinned digimon, human shaped but with its horns shaved down, and huge orange-red hair that trailed down its back. It was frowning and its fangs were showing. One of its fists was bathed in flame. It growled once again. "What do you want with the babies? If it's ill, prepare to fight!"

888

The man watched as the egg pulsed. It had grown triple its size as the golden nuggets of data were fed into it. Even now, the shell was cracking under its own structural weakness. He watched as the egg exploded open. The tube containing the egg ruptured, glass and fluid flushed past him as the new born digimon unfurled its wings. It opened two impossibly blue eyes. Its ivory-white feet touched down gently onto the wet floor of the room they were in. The digimon tilted its head left and then right, its blonde hair wetly flopping in concert.

"You have awoken-" The man said looking at the digimon with the closest thing, the man who was not could call as pride.

"Who are you?" The digimon asked naively. Its boyish face looking at the man with curiosity. "Who am I?"

"I am your greatest friend-" The man said quietly as he walked forward. The man reached out, his hand extending from the arms of his black robe. The digimon retreated instinctively as the man reached towards him. The man smiled an almost kind smile. "And you will be my greatest friend… I have given you life, I have resurrected you from oblivion."

"Why?" The digimon asked quietly looking down at its lily-white hands and arms, sliding its thin, nimble fingers over the white garment covering its torso.

"To gain your help-" the man said quietly. "So that we may end the suffering all things, in all ways, forever and ever…" The man reached forward. The digimon leaned back, trying to gauge the man's intention. "Trust me, I have done so much to bring you back from the deepest darkness. I am your only friend, only I have given you life…do you trust me, child?"

The wings that sprouted from the digimon's head folded slightly and then the digimon smiled brightly and the wings of its head as well as the twelve other wings flared open and it leapt into the man's arms hugging him.

"I trust you! Thank you! To live, to be this resplendent!" the digimon said cheerfully. "Only a true friend would give another this great gift!"

The man smiled as he leaned back and gently caressed the digimon's head before grasping it and staring straight into the digimon's azure eyes.

"Then know the truth, and be one with your only ally!" the man said.

Gennai fell backwards grunting as he skid on the floor. He winced in the gloom of the room he was in. He instantly knew he wasn't alone. He looked up. In the gloom the light only coming from some far off lighting. He saw that which he knew was the worst thing he could ever see. The shadow was famous, the twelve wings, the thin boyish frame and then the eyes opened with the bluest glint.

Gennai blinked his eyes and rubbed them and as his eyes came into focus his heart sank a little more. What he thought was the worst was only the beginning. The wings were black, the toga that hung on the childish frame was black, as was the hair. Even the bracelets that hung on the figure's wrists and ankles were black with gold etchings on them.

"Oh…buggery-" Was the only response Gennai could find that fit the situation.

 **888**

 **AN: So the adventure advances….**


	11. Reversion

**Reversion**

 **888**

"Your babies?" The pink-haired thing asked, it stood between himself and Poromon. She turned to collected the small, winged ball. "I'm sorry, but these are…"

The In-Training digimon yelped in fear as the creature reached for it. Flamon growled and pushed his hand forward and a spear of flames sliced between the pink-haired thing and Poromon. The thing screamed slightly as the fire rushed past it.

"Dude!" Yelped one of the larger creatures; it had yellow hair. It turned on Flamon and glared at him with its blue eyes.

"My babies…" growled Flamon as curled his clawed hands. Flames erupted around his fingers.

"Matt-" The other larger creature said, this one with brown hair, it lifted a hand and pressed it against the yellow-haired creature's chest. The brown-haired creature looked to Flamon apologetically. "Look, I'm sorry if we spooked you...but we mean you no harm…we didn't know that Elecmon was no longer the-"

"Elecmon is at Primary Village-" Flamon growled glaring at the creatures. The eleven of them seemed mildly afraid of him except the brown haired, larger one. It walked out from the group. Flamon growled. "I am taking these ones out to look for supplies…"

"Then you must be…Elecmon's helper?" the brown-haired creature asked. "What's your name?"

"He's Flamon!" yelped Koromon the little dumpling with ribbon ears hopped forward and smiled broadly to the brown-haired creature.

"Koromon!" Flamon growled loudly.

"Oh, Flamon, they're ok!" the little dumpling giggled as he hopped towards the brown-haired creature.

"They look like…him…" DemiVeemon said as the little plush dragon looked up at the lavender haired creature that was with him and Minomon.

The brown-haired creature rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "I guess we have been horribly rude…huh…" The creature reached into a pocket of his leg pelts and pulled out a flat, rectangular object. The creature peeled the skin of the object back, revealing a bar of some kind of brown material. It knelt to Koromon and offered him some. "Here try some of this…"

Flamon growled, leaping forward and pushing Koromon away. He grabbed the bar away from the brown-haired creature who fell backwards, gulping. Flamon sniffed at the bar, it smelled sweet. Flamon stuck his tongue out and licked it slightly. It was sweet, and so much more, complex milky texture. He bit down on it and felt the confection melt in his mouth, releasing even more flavor.

"Well?" The brown-haired creature asked.

Flamon snorted loudly.

"What is it?" Koromon whimpered. "Does it taste good? Is it food?"

"It's a chocolate bar!" A dark-haired creature said as he adjusted a pair of lenses that rested on its nose.

"Choc-o-late…." The other In-Training digimon said to one another as they looked up at Flamon with wide-eyed envy.

Flamon grunted. "It's…not bad-"

"I want some!" yelped Koromon as he hopped towards Flamon and leapt at him. Flamon danced and dodged as he held the chocolate bar high enough to keep it to himself.

"There's not enough for everyone!" Flamon grumbled.

"Actually…" The pink haired creature with lenses like the dark haired creature said heaving a bag forward and unzipping it revealing many strange containers. "I've got food for everyone! I figured we might need some way of convincing our friends to remember us…"

"YAY!" the little digimon cheered as they piled towards the pink-haired creature with lenses on its face.

"Now wait!" Flamon yelped as the In-Training digimon started sucking on their own confections. He sighed and shook his head knowing the battle was lost.

"Can't ever go wrong with snacks and candy, man." The brown-haired creature said as he extended his hand to Flamon. "Taichi Yagami, a human from Earth…."

Flamon narrowed his eyes at the hand. "Why are you here?"

"We used to be the digi-destined, and those little guys, used to be our partners…" Taichi said smiling back at the gang, as the human creatures and the In-Training digimon paired off. Except for DemiVeemon who was hanging out with Minomon and the slim, lavender-haired human. "We just wanted to find our friends…"

"How do you know these are your friends?" Flamon growled. "There are many of these digimon in Primary Village…"

The Taichi creature smiled and looked down at Koromon as the little creature greedily consumed a chocolate bar. "It's just a feeling…"

"Could…could you help us though?" Another human creature came. She was thin, with tan hair and features not unlike the Taichi creature. She was holding Nyaromon who had a large sucker in its mouth. Flamon fought all his urges to grab the small feline ball from the creature, but relented at the calmness that Nyaromon had in the human's arms. The thin creature looked at him hopefully. "Did another one, like us, show up? Did you see him? My height, brown hair, kinda brash, but well-meaning, flame-colored jacket…"

"You are the only hu-mans…I've seen." Flamon snorted as he looked to the others. "Except…for one that looked like you, but he's hardly well-meaning…"

"What do you mean?" the cinnamon-haired human asked as he stood up from Motimon.

"The sprite, you look like the sprite, but he's not good, he and his army of machines…destroyed Setup Island…" DemiVeemon said looking at the humans. "Are you familiar with him?"

"Gennai…" the smallest human said looking up from Upamon.

"So he survived…" the auburn-haired human said as she patted Yokomon's head.

"But where's Daisuke?" The thin human holding Nyaromon asked.

"We'll use the D-3s…" The lavender-haired boy. "He has to have his D-3 with him right?"

"That's quick thinking!" said the human who was with Tanemon. She looked up from the leafy head of the little green digimon.

The lavender-haired human took a black device. Flamon took a breath as he saw it. It looked…it looked…

"There's a signal, he's close!" the lavender-haired human said as he looked at the screen, then his eyebrows furrowed and looked up.

The lavender-haired human walked forward and walked straight up to Flamon. Flamon swallowed as the human looked straight at him. Flamon looked away.

"What's going on?" The larger of the blonde humans asked as he walked forward, Tsunomon hopping behind him.

"The D-3 signal is coming from…" The lavender-haired human looked at Flamon. The human pointed to Flamon. "Him-"

All the humans were looking at Flamon now. The digimon felt very unsure about this. They were surrounding him and the little digimon were with them, side by side. DemiVeemon walked forward.

"You should show them, Flamon…" DemiVeemon said looking up at Flamon.

Flamon reached into the pocket of the jeans he was wearing and pulled out the two devices that had been with the eggs.

"Those…those are Daisuke's!" The thin human yelped.

"Where did you get those?" The smaller blonde said as it stepped forward putting itself between Flamon and Tokomon.

"They came with the five eggs I was able to evacuate from Setup Island before it was destroyed." Flamon growled, glaring at the humans whose eyes were filled with accusations. "Where did you get your things?"

"They were given to us when we were chosen!" the pink human with the lenses said. "What did you do with Daisuke?"

"I don't know who you are talking about!" Flamon growled as he glared at them. He could feel the flames building around his body. "How do I know this isn't all some kind of trick? Some plan by the sprite!? What are you doing here?"

"Guys…" The Taichi human said glaring at the others. "Calm down…there's no reason to believe anything's happened to Daisuke." Taichi looked to Flamon. "He was our friend, he got trapped here, a long time ago…we had hoped we could find him."

"I have not seen-" Flamon started.

"I know…but maybe, you could help." The Taichi asked, looking up at Flamon with soulful brown eyes.

"We should ask Elecmon…" Flamon said.

888

Gennai grunted as his back slammed against the wall. He slid to the ground.

"WHERE IS IT!?" screamed the black winged angle as he lifted his hand. A single finger was pointed at Gennai. Gennai felt his body dragged up against the wall against his will. The flaming blue eyes of the angel glared at him. "What kind of trick is this!?"

"I'm sorry…but your hazard is in another castle…" Gennai chuckled through his tightened throat.

The angel snarled loudly flicking his hand back and Gennai was sent sailing through the air and crashed into a heap on the floor. He grunted as he struggled to his hands and feet.

"Lucemon has control over the hazard, I know it!" growled the angle loudly as he turned and glared at Gennai. "Don't lie to me, sprite! I know that he has the hazard inside of him!"

"In the form you're in, the hazard isn't accessible." Gennai said between breaths. "Only in his Chaos Lord form and dragon form does he have access to the hazard's power."

"So he has to evolve…" The angel said tapping his lip. "Good thing I have a vast reserve of data left…to gorge upon…"

"Won't help-" Gennai grunted as he crawled to the edge of the room and slumped against a wall. "You need a special execution program…just gorging on data will only make you some other kind of digimon…you gotta jump through the hoops…"

"What hoops!?" the angel growled, glaring at Gennai.

"Gospels…" Gennai grunted. "Of the Fallen Angel…."

"You know of them?" the angel asked, a smirk playing across his lips.

"Knew of them…" Gennai replied. "Only Lucemon knew where they were…"

"Perfect!" the angel said clapping gleefully. He closed his eyes and almost instantly frowned. Before Gennai could move the child angel was lifting Gennai off of the ground. "The vessel doesn't know! Are you-?"

"Lying to you?" Gennai grunted. He shook his head. "No. Lucemon knew, back when he found them…problem is, you forced Shakamon to reformat the world. She's not likely to put them back where they were…and that body you have is completely naïve to the gospels…"

"Then you will tell me where they are!" The angel growled.

"I can't." Gennai replied. "Weren't you listening? The world and where the items in it are, have all been re-randomized."

"Liar!" the child roared, tossing Gennai against the wall.

"You were in my head…" Gennai growled, wincing as he fell back to the ground. "Look me in the eyes and tell me I can lie to you." The angel snarled loudly and then turned, pointing his finger at another wall and promptly causing it to explode into a cloud of masonry shrapnel. Gennai narrowed his eyes. "That's not behavior befitting you…" The angel turned its head and glared at Gennai. "You're supposed to be all cool and collected and Zen. I mean considering what you are…or rather aren't that is…" Gennai furrowed his brow and a small smirk crept up on his bruised lips. "Oh, it couldn't possibly be….could it? That would be too ironic…"

"Don't taunt me, sprite, I can destroy you!" the angel snarled pointing a menacing finger at Gennai.

"There it is…right there…" Gennai said as he slowly pushed himself up to his feet and looked down at the black haired child, with twelve black wings. He chuckled even though it hurt all of his body to do so. "Gotcha…"

"What are you laughing at!?" the angel growled.

"It's getting to you. In my head, I gave you an easy time….but inside of that…" Gennai pointed to the angel. "Much stronger personality….and the more you get frustrated, the more you struggle…the more…you become…"

"Don't insult me!" growled the angel glaring at Gennai. "I have the power to destroy you where you stand!"

"Oh, what splendor, what majesty, how completely magnificent…" Gennai laughed loudly as he pushed away from the wall and staggered around the angel. He glared down at the child in a black toga. "You may have the power to destroy the odd army of digimon, sink an island, to murder a defenseless sprite….you may even have an army of mindless, soulless automatons…." Gennai leaned against a panel on the far wall, "but it all pales in comparison to the truth that even with all of that you are still pitiably impotent in the face of reality, and that it is consuming you! You still haven't got what you want, and you won't get it either. You've lost, face it. Even as we speak the world is moving into position, destiny is re-establishing itself, and you're lost and alone, and you will be consumed by existence, just like all the other attempts that you've made in the past."

"I will not fall!" growled the angel. The angel closed his eyes and balled his fists. "I will complete my task! AND YOU AND NO ONE CAN-"

Gennai didn't catch the rest of it as he slipped through the secret hatch in the wall. First rule of capturing someone is, 'don't give them freedom of movement in their own castle'. He heard the rumbles of the storm erupting where he'd left the angel. He could feel them. He had worked on the barrier for so very long, he noticed when it had been penetrated. He had to get to them. Had to warn them of the coming storm…

888

"I just can't…" Hikari sighed as she looked up at the others. They had walked all day, and had finally reached Primary Village at evening. The deep oranges and purples of the evening sky was outlined by the plush blocks which the village was constructed. She looked down at Nyaromon, the little ball of catness was snoozing peacefully on her lap. "We came all this way…"

"Don't give up hope." Hikari smiled and looked over to Takeru. He was sitting next to her, looking across the village. He remembered it from when he first came to the Digital World. Tokomon was sitting on his lap, napping. "Just because he's not with his D-3, doesn't mean he isn't here."

"How are we going to find him though?" Hikari asked as she looked over to the rest of the group.

Iori and Upamon were sleeping, leaning against Miyako and Poromon. Minomon and Ken were sitting under a tree near some bassinets. DemiVeemon was following Flamon around as Flamon went about feeding the babies. Elecmon and Tai were talking with the other older kids. They were trying their best to convince him that they were all familiar with each other but Elecmon was as skeptical if not more so than Flamon. Even their digimon looked at them askew a few times. Tanemon was often struggling to get out of Mimi's arms and Tsunomon was shy around Yamato. Only Taichi and Koromon seemed to instantaneously get along. Nyaromon even though she was napping on her lap still seemed a little distant.

"If Daisuke is still around, he'll make his presence known." Takeru said, yawning and stretching. "He isn't exactly known as a subtle individual, plus why would he hide from you?"

"Well, exactly…" Hikari said quietly.

"Well, that was disappointing…"Taichi's voice sighed. Hikari looked up to see Taichi and others walking towards her.

"We're back to square one." Koushiro said as he sat down between Hikari and Takeru.

Motimon wobbled towards him. "Square one?"

"Yeah…" Koushiro said frowning. "No idea about anything…"

"That's not true is it?" Mimi said as she sat down petitely. "I mean we've got our digimon, we know what we're capable of, and we have a goal…"

"Your digimon?" Tanemon asked looking up with a confused face. "Do you own us now?"

"What? That's not what I meant…" Mimi said blushing. "I mean you're our friends, like you were before…"

"You keep saying 'like we were before'…" Bukamon said as the hovering seal glided past and pointed to Jyou. "But I don't ever remember seeing you…"

"No, you wouldn't…" Koushiro sighed quietly. "Your memories got erased in the reformat. Just like the rest of the world."

"And some stuff is different." Sora said as the auburn haired girl said, as she looked over to Flamon. "Have you ever seen a digimon like that?"

Koushiro slid his book bag off of his shoulders and pulled out his laptop. "No, and the digimon analyzer doesn't seem to recognize him either…"

"He's nice, usually!" Motimon said as he looked around the edge of the computer and looked at the screen. The little digimon reached forward and started tapping at the keyboard. "I'll just put that in…"

"HEY!" Koushiro yelped.

"Oh, let me put some stuff in!" Koromon said as he bounded forward. "How he's really tight about food!"

"And how he's strict!" Tsunomon yelped hopping forward.

"And how he's always making us help do chores!" Tanemon said.

Nyaromon yawned loudly and flickered her eyes open. "He's always taking the biggest fish too…"

"You got up to join in too?" Hikari asked looking down at Nyaromon and giggling.

"And sometimes he just stands way up there and stares out to the ocean!" Tokomon said getting up from Takeru's lap and looked at the highest tower of blocks.

"And sometimes, he always is on our case for being too silly!" Everyone looked up to see Ken and the other kids with their digimon. Minomon was waving his arms.

"He's always afraid we'll wander off…" Poromon added.

"And he's always saying we should be careful of strangers…" Upamon said from Iori's arms.

"I guess that explains why he was so…aggressive with us…" Miyako said looking back to Flamon. DemiVeemon was passing him a bottle. The demon child smiled and sat on his haunches as he fed a baby and patted DemiVeemon on the head with a bright smile.

"Did you get all of that in Motimon?" Koromon asked.

"I think so!" Motimon said as he finished tapping at the keyboard.

"It's…it's…." Koushiro drooped his head, "complete gibberish…."

"No, see look, I've got all that bit in there…and that…and that!" Motimon said defensively as he pointed at the screen and then tumbled slightly falling forward. The Digimon Analyzer disappeared from the screen and was replaced by a folder. Motimon tilted his head. "What's that?"

"It's just a folder of old pictures…." Koushiro said.

"Hey! That's me!" Motimon said pointing.

Koushiro looked and smiled. "Oh yeah, that's that day we went and bought those bits for the computer I built!"

The other digimon seemed very interested in this as they pushed closer. Koushiro smiled and cycled through the photos. The digimon cheered and were mystified as they saw themselves with their chosen child.

"DemiVeemon, come look!" shouted Minomon.

The little blue dragon looked up and came bounding over. Flamon was with him.

"It's you! It's you!" Poromon giggled as they looked at the picture.

"I remember taking that picture…" Hikari said as she looked at it. "It was that one night we all went camping…."

"Who's that?" DemiVeemon asked, glaring at the picture of the boy in a blue shirt sleeping, his shirt tussled, one leg braced against a tree, his face scrunched up against the grass, his body twisted in an almost impossible shape, and on top of him was DemiVeemon sleeping.

"That's Daisuke…he's…he's your partner…" Hikari said. DemiVeemon looked up at her. Her face was somewhere between a smile and a sob. She lifted her hand to her mouth.

"Are you ok?" Nyaromon asked, looking concernedly at Hikari.

"I'm…I'm…fine…it's just I haven't seen this one in a while…" Hikari said. She closed her eyes. "I thought we'd come here and find him and…."

Quickly enough Sora, Mimi and Miyako were hugging Hikari tightly.

"Maybe that's enough pictures." Koushiro said as he closed the laptop.

"Jeesh, he must be important…" DemiVeemon said looking at Hikari.

"He's very important." Ken said quietly. "He's our leader…"

"Not much of a leader…" Everyone looked up to see Flamon standing there, his arms crossed. "He just ups and disappears on you all, and doesn't even have the decency to show up when you come looking…"

"He got trapped here, because he was fighting against something very dangerous!" Ken growled glaring at Flamon. "He was that kind of guy! He'd sacrifice anything to save his friends, he'd fight any fight, even if he knew he couldn't win!"

"Yeesh…" Flamon said, rolling his eyes. "I'm just coming over here to say that Elecmon has a place for you guys to stay. No point in you looking for this Daisuke of yours tonight…"

"Thank you, Flamon." Taichi said quietly.

"The rest of you…" Flamon said looking to the digimon. "You know what time it is…"

"Awwww!" groaned the little digimon. "We want to stay with our friends…and we want to hear stories!"

"Bed time!" Flamon grunted.

"But just a little while longer!" yelped the digimon.

"You know the rules!" Flamon ordered.

"Perhaps…just tonight, they could stay with our new guests." Elecmon's voice said.

Flamon looked back and scowled. "If we let them…"

"One night will not kill them." Elecmon said twitching his ears. "Plus, Flamon, don't forget, I'm the caretaker, you're just…some help…"

"Yes, Elecmon…" Flamon sighed quietly.

The little digimon cheered as Elecmon led them towards a small area with a fire pit. "Sorry, we don't have any indoor beds. You'll have to make do with what we can offer…"

"It's actually quite ok!" Jyou said smiling brightly at the fire. He was already pulling a sleeping bag out of his bag. "Far better than what we had to deal with the last time we had a first night here…"

Yamato shivered. "Seadramon…."

"Now, we should be just a little bit quieter, the babies are awfully cranky if they are awoken." Elecmon said quietly as he waved a hand to them and started walking towards a row of bassinets. "Sleep well young ones…good dreams…"

888

Taichi grunted as he felt a heavy weight drop across his chest. His eyes opened almost without command and he looked down to see a leathery orange hand laying across his chest. Taichi turned his head to see Agumon sleeping at his side. He jumped up and looked around, all the children's partners were in their Rookie form. All of them except for DemiVeemon, who was fidgeting in his sleep next to where Flamon had been when Taichi had turned in.

The red-haired fire demon was missing. Taichi stood up and stretched, as he did so Agumon whimpered and opened his green eyes. What followed was chaos in a bottle. Agumon yelped in surprise waking the others who simultaneous cheered and yelped in surprise as the kids hugged their partners and the digimon looked down at themselves in amazement.

"But how?" Tentomon asked as he buzzed around on new wings.

"It must have been the food you guys ate…" Koushiro theorized.

"But DemiVeemon didn't evolve…" Armadillomon pointed out. Everyone looked over at DemiVeemon. The little plus dragon retreated slightly, a look of shame on his face.

"Maybe it's because his partner isn't around…" Gomamon said, lifting a white flipper.

"Gomamon!" Jyou grumbled with a hiss.

"My, my!" Elecmon's voice rang out from across the village. The red rat was walking towards them. He was surrounded by baby digimon who were blowing bubbles everywhere. "Such progress…amazing…"

"Where's Flamon?" Takeru asked as he looked around.

"Hmmm, probably up there…" Elecmon said grumbling, as he pointed a claw to a high tower of plush blocks. "He goes up there every night after all the babies are tucked in. Says he's keeping a look out." Elecmon frowned slightly. "Not sure for what but whatever it is, Flamon will see it coming…"

The kids looked up at the tower. They squinted in the morning daylight to catch a sight of even a silhouette of the demon.

"He said something about someone like us destroying an island he was on…" Mimi said as she visored her hand over her eyes.

"Yes, he came here months ago with a small boat with some baby digimon, DemiVeemon was one of them…." Elecmon said. "I was at first suspicious but he was so bruised and skinny when he came, and the young ones were so fat…I could only assume he was their caretaker, but I've not yet seen anything or heard of any news from anywhere that suggests such an evil walking the world…."

"He never talks about it?" Sora asked as she looked to Elecmon.

"All the time…but never with much detail." Elecmon replied.

Elecmon's ear twitched slightly. He narrowed his eye and looked up to the sky. The children turned their heads. There was an object coming towards them across the sky, from the ocean.

"Hmm, we've become quite the tourist attraction…" Elecmon said smiling.

Taichi reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a small hand scope and leveled to his eyes.

"What is it Tai?" Yamato asked.

"Uh, guys…it looks like Gennai riding on some weird digimon-" Taichi said, lowering the scope.

"What!?" the kids said in surprise.

"I don't know he's sort of kneeling on a giant robot spider…thing-" Taichi said as he looked back up at the digimon through the scope.

Koushiro ran to him and Taichi handed the cinnamon haired boy the scope. Koushiro watched as the digimon circled over the village. "That looks like Gennai but that digimon I've never seen-"

As Koushiro spoke a bolt of fire erupted from the tower that Elecmon had said Flamon had been upon. The digimon tumbled crashing to the top of the tower.

"Is he nuts!?" Miyako shouted.

"We gotta get up there!" Iori said.

"Uh…guys…" Koushiro said as he pointed further towards the horizon. The kids looked to the sky. A dark cloud was forming on the edges of the sky.

"A storm's coming…" Tentomon said.

"It's made of those spider things!" Koushiro said.

"Could Gennai still be…evil?" Iori asked, whispering the last word.

"What Flamon said would make sense if that thing that pretended to be Gennai was the one that attacked his island…." Ken said.

"It'd make what Flamon did understandable…." Jyou said.

"Then we gotta get ready!" DemiVeemon said hopping forward towards Elecmon. "Flamon always says that the monsters that destroyed the island we were born on were a swarm of weird machine things….and now they're coming here!"

"Indeed…" Elecmon said nodding. He looked to the Rookie digimon and DemiVeemon. "Get the babies into their bassinets, I will go to Toy Town, I will get help, if this is an invasion…we have to fight together!"

"What about Flamon?" buzzed Tentomon.

"He can more than take care of himself…" Elecmon said as he looked up at the tower. He shook his head and looked to the other digimon. "Come on, now snap, snap, there's work to be done!"

888

Gennai grunted loudly as he rolled from the dissolving machine. He sat up and came face to face with a burning fire.

"So you finally come to this island, too…" the fire spoke. Gennai gulped and refocused and found that the flame was simply the end of a clawed finger attached to a tawny arm, attached to lithe, child-like body with attached to a head crowned by huge amounts of flaming hair and shorn demon-horns. "I am telling you now, don't think you can do what you did on Setup Island…I may have been forced to flee by Leormon, but I'm ready to fight, monster."

"I can see why you may be mista-" Gennai said as he tried to scoot backwards.

"Don't lie to me!" the digimon roared. The flame at the tip of its claw grew larger and changed to a blue color. "You may have changed your robes but your face is the same…."

"Allow me to explain!" shouted Gennai loudly.

"You don't think I can see your armies growing in the west?" the digimon shouted.

"They aren't my armies!" Gennai retorted. He jumped to his feet but instantly regretted it as his stomach burned in pain. He winced and fell to his knee. "I don't even know what kind of digimon it is….or what kind of digimon you are for that matter…" He smirked slightly. "That's new….not knowing…." He winced again and leaned forward bracing himself up by pressing his hand on the plushy surface of the block they were on. "All I know is that it is made by the thing that had control of me, that it was nothing more than programming and circuits…devoid of any independent thought…of any soul…"

"So you admit you were the one that destroyed Setup Island!" the digimon growled.

"That's what you got from all of that!?" Gennai sneered and closed his eyes. "I said I wasn't in control of my body! It wasn't me! It was…." Gennai looked up and lifted his hand up and pointed. "It was him…"

The digimon turned to see what the man was pointing at. It was a digimon, a winged angel but its wings were black as were its toga and hair. The sapphire eyes burned as a cloud of the metallic spiders swarmed around him. The angel looked down at Primary Village below and pointed.

Like a micro-burst, the cloud of robotic spiders rained down on the village. The angel disappeared in a wave of spiders and then seemed to apparate onto the tower that he and the strange digimon were on.

"I found you, clever sprite…" the angel said smiling. "You really didn't think you could steal one of my Gizmon and escape could you?"

"I don't know, you look like a inverted Kid Icarus character…and Pit's kinda dumb…" Gennai said, smirking to himself.

The angel frowned and flicked his hand. Gennai felt the punch, or the force of the concussion that smashed into his chest and sent him rolling backward. His right arm hung over the edge of the toward and his left hand clenched grabbing onto the plush fabric, keeping him from going over the end.

"I don't know if I should be proud or scared…" Gennai said quietly, as he looked up at the angel. "Should I be proud that the ultimate emptiness that was in my head, understood that pop culture reference that I made…or should I be terrified at the fact that the ultimate emptiness would be so enraged by such a petty comment that he would respond with violence…"

"You shouldn't fear at all, Gennai…." the angel said glaring at the sprite. "For soon, you and everything on this island will be saved…"

"You say that…" Gennai said as he looked over the edge and heard the crying babies, and then he saw the bursts of light. He smiled as he turned to looking to the angel, "but all I see is a monster being cruel to babies…"

"NOVA BLAST!" a massive fire ball erupted from behind Gennai.

"HOWLING BLASTER!"

"ELECTRO SHOCKER!"

"Meteor WING!"

"Needle Spray!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"Lightning Paw!"

"Stinging Strike!"

"Blast Rings!"

"Tail Hammer!"

Gennai stood dusting off his robes. "…and the heroes who fight the monsters…."

"Fools…they came back…" the angel narrowed his eyes. "And here I'd hoped this time I could just clean up the mess…"

"You're the one that destroyed Setup Island?" Flamon said, the little fire demon was glaring at the angel.

"Yeah, he did it so he could get that body, undoubtedly…" Gennai said, narrowing his eyes. "He's got a grand plan, or so he thinks, but I think it's going to fall apart…"

"Not just this body, with all that data I was able to greatly increase my ranks…" the angel said smugly. "Each digimon processed, and reconstituted into a more perfect form…"

"HA! More perfect! You took out the only thing that makes a digimon a digimon, and not just some icon on a desktop!" Gennai growled.

"I removed all those horrible, little, noisome, thoughts. I removed their pain, their suffering, their sadness and their pain…" the angel returned.

"And their love, their hope, their happiness and glee!" Gennai snarled. "You cut out their hearts and incinerated them, and then twisted their bodies into those cybernetic shells!"

"They…" The fire digimon looked as the sky swirled with the spider creatures. "They were digimon? Digmon from the island?" Gennai watched the fire demon as he clenched his fist. "Leormon…one of those digimon was Leormon! You killed him and turned him into one of those things!?" Flamon glared at the angel. The digimon's arm was a blaze of swirling flames. "You will pay!"

"Wait-" Gennai shouted as the demon leapt forward.

The angel simply quirked its eyebrow, and like a rubber ball hitting a glass wall, the fire demon rebounded off of the air and crashed backwards a few feet from Gennai.

"Such an insolent, little thing." the angel said, turning to the demon as it slowly rose to its feet, its fangs clenched tightly as a growl rumbled from its throat. The angel lazily lifted a hand and slowly pointed a finger. "I shall have to teach you how tiny you really are…." The angel tilted its head. "Your entire existence is nothing more than pithy little equation. And with the artful application of the right co-variants…" a black dot formed at the tip of the angel's finger, "one can simply zero you out completely…"

The demon roared loudly and the angel flicked his finger, and Gennai did something he would routinely chastise almost anyone else for doing. He leapt and pushed the demon off of the tower as the dot embedded itself into his chest. Gennai was surprised at first, it hadn't hurt as much as he had expected, but then the initial wave of adrenaline passed and he screamed in excruciating pain as the very fiber of his being burned with an inexplicable electrical charge.

Gennai dropped to the ground heaving loudly. He looked up to see the angel looking down to him.

"You probably thought that since you weren't that little hot head, that maybe you could survive it, because I was being precise…" the angel said, his arms folded over his chest and shaking his head, "Typical for an ephemeral, you failed to see the big picture, specifically, that I'd still be here to finish the job…"

The angel lifted his leg and then kicked Gennai and Gennai felt the weird sensation of twisting through the sky. In his blinking vision, his mind screaming alarms, still he clearly wondered if this was how the children felt when they were first dragged to the Digital World, as he watched the blur of the Digital World's ground and then sky spiral in and out of view as he tumbled through the air, the ground becoming increasingly larger and the sky increasingly smaller until…well until the spinning stopped.

888

Miyako dove behind a plush block as explosions erupted throughout the village. Babies were crying in bassinets as the robot spiders fired lasers that lanced through the blocks and started fires. Somehow, someway the digivices had reacted and their partner digimon had evolved and were fighting the battles in the skies and ground.

She looked over to see Ken and Hikari holding DemiVeemon. The little blue dragon was crying, covering his head with his tiny hands. Then the little dragon looked up.

"FLAMON!" yelped the little dragon as he pointed. A figure was seen falling from the tower.

DemiVeemon flailed in Ken and Hikari's arms and then rested himself free, bounding through the explosions and the flames.

"DemiVeemon!" Hikari screamed as she got up and ran after the digimon.

"Hikari wait!" Miyako shouted as she jumped up, Ken was already in a sprint after the girl.

The ground shook from the fighting. Hikari seemed to bounce and weave through the legs of Greymon and Garurumon. Ken dodged in and around Togemon and Ankylomon. Miyako was running straight behind them when her vision was filled with white as her face planted into the rear-end of Ikakkumon. She struggled extracting herself from the heavy white fur and bounced slightly as she fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Jyou shouted.

"They ran off…I think…" Miyako shouted as she pointed, but stopped as soon as she realized the silence. Everything had stopped. The spider digimon were just hovering there. She looked up and saw the angel descend. She swallowed loudly.

"So, Chosen Ones, you don't learn your lessons do you?" the angels asked loudly. "I'd have thought that the loss of your number would be a deterrent, that the loss of the Digital World that you defended would be enough…that simple fact that you are no longer remembered, no longer wanted….would be enough…I should have guessed, the greed and self-importance of ephemerals knows no end…."

"We came for Daisuke Motomiya!" Miyako looked up to see Taichi walking forward. "Where is he?"

"Deleted…lost to the world, everything foreign to this world was erased." the angel returned. It's blue eyes blazed from under its black hair.

"NO!" Hikari screamed.

"You were foreign to this world!" Ken said loudly. He looked up at the angel. "You are that thing that took over Gennai right? You sound like him…you are still here!"

"I am not foreign to this world…" the angel said quietly. "Quite the inverse, this world is foreign to myself, and I will see it ended so I can return to my peace." The angel took a deep breath. "But I suppose I will have to evict you first, and then when I've finally rid myself of these destined heroes I can finally finish this long, long awaited work."

"We won't let you!" growled Greymon as the massive blue and orange tiger striped tyrannosaur said as he pushed himself between the angel and the children. He was followed by Garurumon, and the other Champion digimon.

"You don't have a choice in the matter." The angel growled, its blue eyes glaring forward.

"We'll see about that!" Angemon shouted as the angel clenched his fists. "Hand of FATE!"

What followed was a chorus of attacks, fire balls, missiles, needles, rocks and rings of sonic energy. Each attack flaring towards the angel. The angel simply lifted his hand, opening his palm. The attacks froze and then melted away as if they were nothing more than a fog.

"Silence you foul, little things…" The angel's hand curled and he snapped his fingers.

Miyako winced as the sound reverberated. She looked up to see Hawkmon falling towards the plush ground. She ran to the little, brick-red hawk, catching him before he crashed to the ground. He groaned loudly as she stroked his feathers. She looked over to see the other kids kneeling next to their partners, each one reverted to their Rookie form.

"Now, I am feeling…charitable…." The angel said as he looked down at them. "I'm more than willing to destroy you and your partners, and this entire village all in one…fairly large fell swoop…"

"You can't!" Mimi yelped, looking up at the angel. "All the babies!"

"I most certainly can…" the angel said, a smile playing across his face.

"They are innocent, they've never hurt anyone!" Mimi yelled.

"Wrong…their very existence is a wound that cuts me deeper than any wound could…" the angel replied, his eyes narrowed. "They are a disgusting curse that has been applied to me….and I will see it ended…every child, every baby, every living and non-living thing in this world will go…I will obliterate them all…and you, you will be the first to fa-"

"No one, is getting destroyed today…." a feral growl erupted from behind the angel. A figure was standing on the other side of the angel, beside it was DemiVeemon. Flames were engulfing the figure. Miyako thought she saw a shape in the flames, large wings, a vague dragon like look, but with a human face.

The angel sneered and turned. "You are a persistent thing aren't you, you really should've taken your chance and run…."

"Shut up!" the figure snarled as its flaming arms lifted. A ball of fire simply expanded into existence above its head. "I'm done with watching others die…of running away…of listening to YOU! No one is falling…no one except for you!"

"Pathetic…" the angel growled. "Empty threats…."

"Burn-" snarled the figure and the ball of fire condensed and then rocketed forward.

The angel screamed loudly as his entire body erupted in flames. The angel burned for only a few seconds, but when the flames dispersed the angel dropped to the ground his body smoking his skin covered in burns. The figure that had assaulted him collapsed the flames, falling away revealing Flamon as DemiVeemon bounced to the little digimon's side.

The kids all slowly approached the angel. The angel gasped loudly, prompting the children to leap backwards in terror.

"How…how…" the angel hissed loudly as he rose to his hands and feet. He clenched his fists and glared at the limp Flamon. He lifted his charred arm and pointed. "It changes nothing except the order of executions…you will die first!"

DemiVeemon leapt forward; light seemed to burn around him and he charged forward.

"DemiVeemon Digivolve to….VEEMON!" A blue blur flew forward. "V-HEADBUTT!"

The glowing V on the blue dragon's forehead slammed into the angel and the twelve-winged creature was sent flailing head over feet.

He crashed to the ground and tried to stand, but winced, falling forward. He growled loudly glaring at the positively glowing Veemon. "My Gizmon…" The spider horde descended to the angel, lifting the angel up. The little angel huffed and glared to them. "I will not falter, I will not fall, I will see my peace fulfilled…"

And then the horde of spiders rocketed away.

"Well, that happened…" Jyou said, as he adjusted his glasses.

"What the hell was that!?" Yamato shouted.

"He…" a voice came from behind the children. Miyako turned to see Gennai, the Gennai she knew with the beige Jedi robes, laying limply against a toppled pile of plush blocks. Gennai winced. "He's the end of the world…"

"Your hurt!" Mimi shouted as she ran to him.

"I'm glad the obvious hasn't escaped-" Gennai coughed loudly. "Oh, it hurts too much to be sarcastic…"

The other kids were quick to run to him, except for Hikari and Ken who were helping Flamon to his feet. Veemon was already bracing Flamon up. They soon joined the others. Gennai weakly lifted his hand and tried to wave them to stand back but they were insistent. Jyou was already unpacking gauze and salves.

"So, it wasn't really you that caused all of those problems…" Koushiro said, in a relieved voice.

"Eh…" Gennai said, as he tried to look up at Koushiro. "I made a few mistakes of judgment that let it happen…"

"But but..." Koushiro started.

"I'm sorry…" Gennai said, as he took a deep breath. He grunted and looked at his hands. Miyako gasped slightly as she saw a jitter, the outline of his body got fuzzy. "This old body of mine…it's wearing a bit thin…."

"Just hold on, I've got something, here!" Jyou yelped as he was diving through his medical bag. He pulled out a bottle. "Here, take an aspirin…"

"Oh, I shouldn't think so…" Gennai said quietly as he waved off the pills. He leaned his head against the plush bricks he was laying against. "Should've been taking my digi-vitamins...too late now…"

The outline of Gennai's body became indistinct, the core of it glowed. The children stood back as the core shrunk and then, and then seemed to solidify. It coalesced and then a new outline formed around the core.

"Who's that?" Iori asked as he looked and watched an old man's body form in front of them, a large bulbous nose, a thing bob of hair on top of a bald head with a wrinkly face and moustache. The beige robes replaced by black and red robs.

"He…" Takeru started.

"He turned back…" Koushiro said as he looked down at the old man sleeping on the ground in front of them.

 **888**

 **AN: Work started so I was busy…this should've been out last week…Sorry guys….**

 **But none the less, the adventure advances….**


	12. Gennai Explains Absolutely Nothing

**Gennai Explains Absolutely Nothing**

 **8888**

"WHY!" The wall exploded and brick and dust rained down. The hands were burnt and a grimace formed on the face. The sapphire eyes glared at their reflection in the metal fittings of a pipe. "I have the power now, nothing could stop me, why was that creature…capable of such strength!?"

From the depths of the mind came a voice not of nothing. A small voice, but strong in its convictions. "Destiny-"

"Destiny is destroyed, Shakamon has abandoned this-" The face contorted in annoyance. A piercing thought from within scythed to the surface.

"This world is re-established, its reality is becoming reaffirmed…" the small voice said. "Its heroes are back. They will protect this world, from all threats…even when the memories are gone the world will move them into position."

"Then they must be destroyed…" the eyebrows pinched atop the sapphire eyes glaring into the metal fixture.

"We can destroy them." the voice whispered from the darkness. "But not like this…not alone…."

"Then how?" Nostrils flared.

"You know the way, the only way…" the voice whispered quietly. "If destiny has its warriors then we…must have ours…"

"I have an army-" A hand pressed against the reflective surface.

"Empty husks, devoid of what makes a warrior worthy of me…" the voice whispered. "No, you must create warriors, true warriors, you know how…"

"NO!" The sapphire eyes glared at the reflection. "I will not stoop to their level! I will not-"

"Then you will fail…and this world will burn on forever…" the voice replied and it started to giggle. "You will suffer eternal pain….all because you refused to-"

"NO!" A hand curled into a fist and smashed into the metal fitting, denting it disrupting the reflection. The sapphire eyes closed. They slowly opened and looked up to the tubes that threaded the ceiling little pearls of yellow light, each one a packet of data floated through the tubes. "Creation for the purpose of returning to truth…." A smile curled into existence on the face, unbeknownst to the smiler's conscious mind. "Maybe it is acceptable in this one circumstance…." the body turned, behind it the mechanical spiders, the Gizmon, were waiting emptily, staring blankly, blindly forward. "Half of you find the gospels, the others track the children….but do not engage!"

The mechanical, hovering spiders beeped and then glided away. The head turned and stared into the metal fixture, looking at the dented reflection. It saw the smile that played across the lips. The eyebrows furrowed, and a sense of concern swarmed through it, what had the sprite said? It tried to remember, but a pain shot through its head, and the thought was banished replaced with a need a need to create….to create for its own pride's sake…

888

"Wait, that's, that's Gennai!?" Miyako said pointing at the old man laying on the ground.

"Well, that's what he looked like when we first met him." Mimi said nodding. "Such a retro-look…."

"But he's so…old…" Miyako said, tilting her head slightly. "I mean if that's what he looked like before…then that means…"

"He got younger." Koushiro said as he sat down and opened his laptop.

"You're back into that computer?" Tentomon buzzed as he hovered over Koushiro's shoulder.

"I have to input this new variable into my files…" Koushiro said, as he typed. "The more we know about this world the more…"

"He's out like a light…" Yamato said as he looked down at the old man.

"Everyone's gotta take a nap sometimes…" Agumon said and then he reached over to Taichi and grabbed his hand. "Ummm…"

"What is it buddy?" Taichi asked as he looked down at the little dinosaur.

"Can…can I have a snack?" Agumon chirped smiling broadly.

"I digivolved…" Veemon said as he looked at his hands. He looked over to Flamon who was sitting rubbing his head. "Flamon did you see it!?"

"I-I was a little out of commission there…" Flamon grunted, as he looked to Veemon. "Lookin' good though. I wonder how that happened…"

"I jusht, I jusht, wanted to protect you…and I felt all thish shtrength and then and then-" Veemon stretched his arms out.

"Ugh-" The children and the digimon turned to see the old man move slightly. He slowly lifted his head. "Right…so then it wasn't a dream." The old man looked at his hands. "Pity…"

"Gennai!" Koushiro closed the laptop quickly and jumped to his feet running to the old man.

"Quiet down, yeesh, I'm old not deaf…" Gennai grumbled struggling to get to his feet. Having accomplished this, Gennai then surveyed the area. "So, he wrecked up the joint…"

"He?" Iori asked as the boy walked forward.

"I think he meant the black-winged angel-" Armadillomon said as the little hard-shelled mammal followed Iori.

"You know who that was?" Iori asked, he was nearly as tall as Gennai now and looked into the old man's squinting eyes.

"I suspect I do…" The old man said, folding his hands behind his back. He turned and started to walk away.

"Hey you can't just walk off!" Jyou yelped.

"Aren't you going to tell us?" Sora asked.

"Is that all I am to you then?" the old man snorted and turned glaring at the children. "A walking expository device? Children these days…"

"That's, that's not what they meant." Hikari said as she walked forward. "It's just this is all…getting beyond us."

"We've been playing a game that we don't even know the name of this whole time." Ken said. He looked over to Veemon who was still sitting with Flamon, "and we've already lost so much…"

"I'm sorry." Gennai said quietly and he walked back towards the children. "I'm just a bit grumpy, I guess, you'd understand. I'm stuck in this crinkled up mess of a body, when I had a young sexy body just only a little while ago…."

"Sexy?" Miyako asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I was all…" Gennai very slowly and shakily sliced his hands back and forth, "Annakin Skywalker, Jedi knight, super cool and now I'm all…'Hmmm, the force, use, you must, Luke!'…can't say that it isn't a tad disappointing…"

"How do you do that?" Koushiro asked, as he sat down and started opening his laptop.

"Oh, you just swap around the predicate and the subject of the sentence, and add a disgruntled hmm to it…" Gennai said, looking at the cinnamon haired boy.

"No, no, go from young to old and back to young…like you did." Koushiro said shaking his head. "That's one thing I've never been able to understand."

"Lots of fiber." Gennai said shaking his head.

"I'm being serious!" Koushiro growled.

"I am, too, lots of bran…" Gennai grunted and looked at himself. "Too much bran probably…"

"Uh, right, I'm going to tag in here." Taichi said as he walked forward and sat on his haunches in front of Gennai. "Gennai, we need to know what's going on?"

"Didn't he explain it to you? It was all he could talk about..." Gennai said furrowing his bushy eyebrows.

"No one's explained anything…" Yamato sighed and exasperated sigh. "We wouldn't be asking you if whoever 'he' is explained anything."

"Oh, I rather suspect you weren't listening." Gennai replied and he looked at the other children confused looks. "Let me rephrase that, I know you weren't listening." Gennai sighed and groaned as he bent his legs and sat down on the puffy ground of the primary village. "Fine then…let's do this."

The children looked down at the man and he patted the ground. They slowly sat. Veemon and Flamon looked up.

"Yes, you may as well, too." Gennai said waving them over. The two digimon looked at each other and then walked over sitting with the children. "Right well, let's start at the beginning…" Gennai frowned, "no, scratch that, let's start before the beginning…."

"Before the beginning?" Takeru asked.

"Yes, of everything." Gennai said quietly. "What do you know of the origins of reality?"

"There was this umm, explosion…" Mimi said lifting her finger to her mouth.

"An expansion from a singularity, that caused space, time, matter and energy to come into existence." Yamato said crossing his arms over his chest. Everyone looked at him fairly shocked. Yamato's eyebrows pushed together and he frowned. "It's basic knowledge anyone would know it…"

"Hmm, not bad…" Gennai said as he poked the ground. "However, that's not the full story…you see before the stuff happened there was nothing."

"Nothing?" Salamon asked furrowing her brows. "But how could stuff come from nothing?"

"Fairly easily…" Gennai said quietly. "The nothing that preceded everything was not just a void. It was true nothing. It was nothing with a capital 'N'…or rather it wasn't an it…" the old man sighed quietly. "Look language is going to get real tricky here, from our point of view true Nothing is kinda…impossible to conceive…"

"Is he always like this?" Palmon asked looking to Mimi.

"To be honest, I usually just wait for him to stop talking and listen to whatever Jyou or Taichi end up saying that he said…" Mimi admitted tapping her chin as she remembered the last time they had a conversation with Gennai.

"You don't wait for me?" Koushiro asked looking at Mimi, shocked.

"You're usually just as bad as he is!" Mimi said looking back to Koushiro.

"She's not wrong-" Tentomon said quietly.

"How would you know!?" Koushiro yelped.

"It's obvious…" Biyomon said.

The other digimon nodded together.

"You do seem the kind of guy that understands all this stuff but can't explain it without using huge words…" Flamon said.

"I-but…" Koushiro looked at the other kids and then looked to Sora, Taichi and Yamato. "Really?"

"Sorry, but…a little bit…" Sora said, looking very embarrassed.

"You never said anything!" Koushiro yelped and then slumped his head.

"We figured you - needed it…" Yamato said as the blonde reached out and patted Koushiro on the shoulder. "But dude, if it helps, I got like…twenty-five percent of it usually…"

"LIAR!" Sora and Taichi yelled.

"Miracle you lot didn't get your bodies mish-mashed in the gate when you chased Myotismon that one time…" Gennai shook his head.

"This nothing…" Koushiro started still a little shook.

"Nothing…say it with a capital N…" Gennai retorted.

"I-uh…" Koushiro flummoxed looking up and narrowing his eyes at the old man.

"I can tell the difference." Gennai said. "If it helps, the original Nothing was infinity itself. Nothing is the other side of the coin of Infinity, same coin, different sides. If you walk far enough into the infinite you find nothing, likewise if you delve deep enough into the nothingness, you find infinity; same destination just depends on which way you are walking towards it that determines what you call it. The Nothing has infinite potential to be anything, and then it was, and this is what we're talking about, and why we're all here, and why I'm old again."

"My…head hurts…" Agumon whimpered.

"You're not alone buddy…" Taichi said quietly.

"That which is attacking this world is a shard, a remnant, of the Nothing…" Gennai said, pushing his bushy eyebrows together. "It is very miffed at us…"

"Why? What did we do?" Miyako asked angrily.

"You exist…" Gennai said quietly.

"Yeah, he said that when he looked like you…" Jyou said, nodding.

"Not looked like, was…" Gennai sighed quietly.

"Yeah, how did that happen?" Iori asked.

"I let it happen…" Gennai said quietly, sighing. "I thought I could change it…"

"How did it get to you?" Miyako asked. "I mean even the dragons couldn't crack you…"

"Oh it's been in me for centuries…" Gennai replied waving a hand. "Since Piedmon…part of the reason I got old the first time was to forestall it taking over my mind. This isn't the first time the Nothing has attacked this world. It's been at this since the very beginning. It was very much against existence. It has always wanted to undo creation, it started with the ancient quantum titans, then it attempted to manipulate the demons…even the dragons had a component to them built towards its design…and of course Apocalymon he was the most blatant…"

"You thought you could change Nothing?" Ken asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing can't exist in creation, reality abhors a vacuum, if Nothing exists in creation without a vessel; creation would simply define it and fill in the nothingness with somethingness." Gennai said quietly. "So I allowed myself to be taken, in hopes that maybe I could work on the Nothing, work on it and get it to stand down…I underestimated its motivation…if Nothing can have motivation…heck calling it Nothing is…only lying about the true nature of Nothing…." Gennai twitched his mustache. "I think I'm getting a headache…"

"So this thing is mad at us because…we exist but….why?" Iori asked again.

"Existence defines it, when Nothing is definition Nothing becomes less…" Gennai said. "The only thing I can say that would make sense is that, existence, for all intents and purposes inflicts pain upon Nothing by defining it. Existence is like a boa constrictor, tightening its coils around Nothingness, each coil tightening more and more…and Nothingness in general tolerates it because universes die out, naturally over time…."

"But…I feel there's a but coming…" Jyou said.

"A big butt!" Gomamon giggled.

"Not now!" Jyou growled.

"There are all these other worlds…" Gennai said. "Most of them are, isolated, they have no Digital World counterpart, they are for lack of a better word 'mundane'. Those universes die out because there is only so much energy within them, and within a closed system…"

"All the energy gets consumed to entropy…" Yamato said quietly.

"Ok, no, time out…" Taichi said raising his hands to make a 'T' and looking at Yamato. "When?"

"It's just space stuff!" Yamato said, sheepishly.

"It's the second law of thermodynamics….everything goes until it freezes…basically." Koushiro said. "In a closed system entropy increases…and in a closed system there's a finite amount of energy that can be converted into entropy…."

"Except…" Gennai said quietly. "The Digital World creates an open system, this universe has even more worlds than other universes that have Digital Worlds….This universe is an immortal thorn in the paw of the primordial Nothing; and it's decided to pull it out."

"Ok, so we hurt it and it wants to destroy us…" Miyako said.

"Not just destroy us, undo us." Gennai said quietly. He reached up and stroked his moustache. "And then all other universes with Digital Worlds. The Nothing intends to wipe them all out. There's been multiple attempts across the multiverse. Each time the Nothing infiltrates a universe, attempts to mutate and manipulate that world to create a crisis where the world is destroyed or consolidated into a single closed system. This time however, I fear there's a difference. It intends to attack the source itself, the world that sits in the middle of the multiverse, the world that is the template of all realities…and it's going to do it by shattering this world first."

"Why this world?" Ken asked.

"You know why." Gennai said narrowing his eyes at Ken. He looked at all the children. "They don't remember, but you do, at least fractions of it. It burrowed into your neck, Ken Ichijouji…."

"What's he talking about?" Wormmon asked looking up at Ken.

"Millenniummon…." Ken said, looking down at Wormmon.

"Millenniummon's attack resulted in this world coming in direct contact with the template world, with the entity at the center of creation itself…." Gennai said quietly. "The Nothing intends to use that connection to destroy creation at its source."

"How do we fight it?" Yamato asked.

"Like I said, the Nothing can't exist in creation, if the vessel is destroyed, then the shard of Nothing will simply - pfft-" Gennai swept his hand out. "Fill in…and…err…umm….cease to be Nothing…"

"Sounds easy, that angel didn't seem too-" Flamon started.

"Lucemon's not as easy as the display it gave shows. The Nothing doesn't know how to use all of Lucemon's power…and I'm worried that the Nothing is underestimating Lucemon." Gennai sat silent for a while thinking. "Plus, Lucemon's body is only going to get more powerful, the Nothing is searching out some old gospels to evolve into Lucemon's other forms, which are terribly powerful, and worse yet, have access to the Digital Hazard. I presume that's the true tactic at play…" Gennai said quietly. "Utilize the Digital Hazard to erase the source….it is the original attempt by the Nothing after all; it tricked reality into coding it for the purposes of destroying everything…"

"So then we find the gospels then." Jyou said smiling. "And we keep them from this Nothing… Where are they?"

"No idea, when the reboot happened, everything got scrambled." Gennai said. "It's the only thing that's saving us, because I'm ignorant of the current location the Nothing could find the gospels by searching me or Lucemon. Fortunately the Nothing isn't as clever as it could be, because I know where we can find out where the Gospels are."

"Awesome!" Taichi said.

"Rosa de Venus." Gennai said quietly. "It's the codex for the entire Digital World, if it exists in the Digital World, it is searchable there…"

"Maybe we can find Daisuke there then!" Hikari said, for the first time in a while. The entire group seemed to become gloomy at the girl's cheer.

"Kari…" Taichi said quietly.

"I'm sorry…" Gennai said quietly. "But he's gone…anything foreign to the Digital World would've been purged in the reboot."

"No!" Hikari shouted. Even Salamon flinched as the little puppy-kitten looked up worriedly to Hikari. "I know he's alive. He came to me in a dream, he has to be the one that propped the gate open for us!"

"The gate malfunction was just the barrier glitching due to the reboot…." Gennai said quietly.

"NO!" Hikari yelled, louder this time. Tears started to build at the corners of her eyes. "He can't be….He can't be…"

"Wait…what about this stuff…" Flamon whispered as he reached into his pants' pocket and pulled out the D-terminal and D-3.

"Yeah, the D-terminal is from our world…" Takeru said pointing at it. "It didn't get erased…and Daisuke had it when…" Takeru stopped himself.

"Hmm…" Gennai said looking at the machine. He then looked up at Flamon. "And you, how did you come by it?"

"Leormon had it, with Veemon's egg…" Flamon said.

"And where did you come from?" Gennai asked. "I've seen all the digimon, you…you're new…"

"I-I don't know, all I know is I woke up one day and I was…alive" Flamon said quietly. He scratched the back of his head.

"Just like me!" Veemon said proudly. "I don't remember anything about before I hatched, just that one day…I was alive."

"I suppose that makes sense." Gennai grumbled. "It's been so long since I first lived…I can't hardly remember it either…I guess it's possible I missed a digimon, heaven knows the dragons created a whole bunch of new data forms…" Gennai twitched his moustache. He turned and looked to Hikari. "My dear, maybe you're right. Maybe there's some small miraculous chance that he survived. If he did…then…there's one place to search for him."

"At this 'Rosa de Venus' place…" Ken said quietly. "Even I've never heard of it…where is it?"

"Continent of Cloud…" Gennai said quietly. "Not easy to get to, it's a hovering continent…" Gennai pointed into the sky, "somewhere up there, it's always moving…"

"Great, how are we supposed to get there then?" Miyako fumed quietly.

"Patience. Also, there's a backdoor around here somewhere…" Gennai grunted as he stood up. "I think in Centaurumon's maze….should be an old transmat laying around."

"Then let's go!" Taichi said jumping to his feet.

"May as well, I'm not as young as I used to be…" Gennai said quietly, nodding.

888

"Cloud…" The face scrunched up into a sneer. Its face was reflected in the screen, and looked at the shadows behind it. "You heard the old geezer…"

"Of course, my most malignant magnificence." bowed one of the shadows with all the pomp and circumstance of a mon that knew what court he was jesting in.

"Those children, their digimon, not a scrap of them left behind." the eyes glared at the reflection of the shadows that framed their face. "I want destiny properly eliminated from the equation…excised…"

"Nullified…" The bowing shadow said, as it stood up and a wide, wicked smile cut across its face.

"Precisely-" The voice replied quietly. The face's lips curled into an unbeckoned smile.

 **8888**

 **AN: Sorry everyone. Sorry Sorry…. This may be the last chapter for a bit, I've been incredibly busy and this story is hitting some hitches for me, so I've gotta figure out what I'm doing before I proceed too much further. Have hope though, dream big…..and maybe we can try and get this done within a decade!**


	13. The Reaper Mons

**The Reaper Mons**

 **888**

"Arbormon!" Kazemon shouted as the wooden soldier was slammed against a marble pillar, pinned there by arrows.

"Arrow Lance-" A steel arrow sliced through the wooden soldier, splintering the digimon into shards that exploded into dust.

"I would be more worried about yourself…" growled a huge crimson, bipedal dragon, it clenched its fists. Blood red flames wrapped around its arms. "Tyrant Collbrande!"

Waves of crimson flames roared forward.

"Get down!" A man made of mirrors leapt in front of Kazemon and lifted a shield affixed to its arm. "Dark Reflection!"

The flames were swallowed into the mirror the man lifted his other arm. The mirror shield on that arm glowed and the flames fired back black and swirling. The dragon cross his arms across his chest as the flames smashed against his forearms.

"Mercurymon…" Kazemon whispered.

"How interesting…" Kazemon looked up to see a human like digimon standing in front of a pillar he had green armor and a sharp nose and quivers of arrows on his back, the wispy clouds that bathed the ground curling up around him. A long, tail with a gloved hand reached up pulling an arrow and one of its arms with a bow-enhanced gauntlet lifted. "A digimon who reflects others' attacks."

"One wonders…" another digimon stepped forward. This one a hulking man-beast in burnished golden armor, the shoulders looking not dissimilar to treasure chests. The man-beast reached behind his back and unhooked a battled axe. "How it would do against an axe?"

"Is this really all the continent of Cloud can present as a defense?" a fourth digimon asked. This one was completely hidden in the darkness of a shadow only red eyes glared out from the darkness. "You warriors three?"

"Eh, let's be happy that it only took us to get this done…" the armored beast-man said as he lifted his axe above his head. "Imagine if we needed help from the other three…against this."

"I just regret not having to do anything…at all…" the digimon in the shadows demurred as it reached out revealing a hand with long claws. "Maybe I'll have just a bite…"

"Hurricane WAVE!" Kazemon pushed her hands forward, straining her insect wings as blasts of wind roared forward snapping a the dark digimon's fingers.

"Dragon Breastronic Fire-" A blast of blood crimson flame erupted forward towards the wind fairy.

"Kazemon!" she heard Mercurymon shout. Kazemon winced and looked over towards Mercurymon.

"Dual Tomahawk!" An axe smashed through the mirror that comprised Mercurymon's torso. The mirror digimon grunted and fell forward.

"MERCURY-"

"Again, worry about yourself, fairy." Kazemon looked up to see the full form of the dark digimon, it's vampiric fangs emerging as its lips curled back to form a smile.

"Tyrant Collbrande!" roared the dragon.

"What?" The vampire growled and lurched sideways as flames roared towards Kazemon.

The wind fairy leapt backwards and skidded behind a pile of rocks and broken masonry.

"WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT! WHO DOES THAT!?" roared the vampire. "I was about to EAT HER!"

"I just thought-" the dragon started.

"No, you didn't! Anyone got an eye on her?" the vampire's voice shouted.

"Sorry the smoke and everything…" One of the other digimon said.

"Great…you better hope we do better against those kids!" snarled the vampire. "I for one don't want to get melted back into the darkness for this!"

Kazemon gulped and slowly made for a hatch that she caught sight of behind another pile of rubble.

888

"Ugh, I forgot how…gross it was down here!" Mimi grumbled as they delved into the underground maze. "Is it me or is it a heck of lot smaller in there than I remember?"

"We were much smaller when we were in here last…" Koushiro said as he walked slowly forward, the light from his laptop slightly glowing.

"No, she's correct, the world's smaller…" Gennai tutted as he turned a corner. "For instance, no Centarumon. The Nothing's work, undoubtedly, couldn't wipe the world out completely but it definitely excised several exobytes here and there when reality wasn't looking."

"Or maybe Centarumon is out for groceries…" Jyou said with a smile that was trying to be hopeful.

"Unlikely, the store delivers, no need to leave you homey cave or ancient labyrinth ruins…" Gennai's voice replied from around the corner. "Ah, here we are…."

The rest of the kids and their digimon came around a corner to find a large, well larger, open room. Gennai was putting a lit torch into a fitting on the wall revealing a small stage with a plinth off its center. The walls were covered in glyphs.

"More Digital World hiragana…" Koushiro whispered as he ran forward, with Tentomon buzzing close behind him.

"Lines are missing…" Gennai grumbled, narrowing his perennially narrowed eyes.

"Should we be worried about that?" Miyako asked as she walked forward. "I mean if I remember correctly these glyphs act like the base code of a computer program, except you know…"

"They control the actual functioning of the world…" Ken said, as he inspected the wall. "If the code is missing lines then…"

"The program shouldn't you know…work." Miyako said as she looked down to Gennai who was shuffling cards in his hands.

"Very prescient, these newer ones aren't half bad…" Gennai said as he walked up to the plinth. He looked to the older digi-destined. "Provide their own exposition, I like that, less work for me, you older ones should learn a thing or three from them."

"The missing lines don't seem to be anything vital to the program itself." Koushiro said as he looked from the wall to the computer. "Just sort of flourishes of flavor…"

"That's says a lot about you Koushiro…" Tentomon buzzed as he hovered just above the cinnamon-haired boy's head. "That flavors aren't important…."

"He lost his sense of taste from all that oolong tea long ago…" Taichi giggled.

"Right, overall Koushiro is correct, this should work…" Gennai looked down at the plinth. "Now, I think this works on Stargate rules, if I remember correctly, been a eon or three since I've used this…six cards define spatial and temporal coordinates, the seventh is a locking mechanism…."

"Wait isn't that the gate thing from Myotismon's castle!" Sora yelped as she ran to the plinth.

"Similar tech, different application, this one is a teleporter of sorts, a fast travel facility, when your plot can't be bothered to, you know, wait for you actually travel across a continent." Gennai said as he looked at the spaces on the plinth. "Used to be bunches of these all over the place…"

"Wait, we could've used one of these things when we were first here!?" Jyou yelped. "Instead of you know, building a raft and getting eaten by a giant Whamon!"

"Absolutely not!" Gennai harrumphed. "Being eaten by Whamon was very important to your growth and identity, plus…I had no idea where the tags were, so whilst yes technically you'd have made it to the continent of Server, Etemon would've had you for lunch."

"Plus you'd forgotten this thing was here, didn't you?" Yamato said demurely.

"I didn't forget!" Gennai grouched as he stamped his cane. "I just…failed to remember."

"Right…" Yamato said as he stood on the stage.

"So this will take us to Cloud huh?" Takeru asked as he followed Yamato onto the stage.

"That's the plan." Gennai said quietly. "Now let's see if I remember the address. No one goes to Cloud, you see; it's heavily defended, or it used to be…not even the Dark Masters bothered, too much effort, plus hardly anything there but data storage."

"If it's that heavily defended why didn't Cloud help fight back against well…everything!?" Iori asked as he sat on the edge of the small dais.

"Not their job." Gennai replied as he started setting cards carefully on the plinth. "Cloud serves as a repository, it's not Cloud's purpose to interfere with the rest of us down here on the ground."

"Don't they care?" Hikari asked as she looked at everyone that was now milling around the room. "I mean, they are part of the Digital World too…"

"It's not a question of them not caring, it's a question of them understanding how to express that caring." Gennai said softly, looking up to Hikari. "By staying out of it, the denizens of Cloud are caring. They remember, they observe, they do not interfere."

"So they are useless." Flamon grumbled. The red, child-like oni hopped onto the dais. "They just let things happen."

Gennai sighed laboriously. "They represent the memory of everything in this world, without them," Gennai pointed quickly to the ceiling, and one presumed the sky beyond, "these little reboots that happen periodically would be almost impossible." Gennai sniffed slightly as he returned his attention down to the plinth and placed another card in a slot. He furrowed his brow and looked up. "They are the reason why digimon in this world are able to return as digi-tama and retain their memories, rather than in other worlds where death is…death, and or reformatting is total and the previous self is lost." Gennai looked to Ken and TK and then to Hikari. "They mourn the loss of digimon that can't be retrieved, the war with the dragons was probably the most cataclysmic event they ever had to suffer, even if they largely were untouched by the dragon's attack." Gennai took a deep breath. "On Cloud they have a saying, 'Nothing is lost as long as it is remembered…if you can remember it, it can be restored'. For them the memory of the thing is the same as the existence of the thing…but when digimon go to the human world, when those digimon are lost there; they are forgotten by this world, their memory is erased as if they never were. A small shard of the Digital World is inexorably deleted…and it's a tragedy far greater than any evil digimon's rampage against the innocent."

Miyako shivered slightly remembering the digimon that were burnt in the war and even before that. She remembered LadyDevimon.

"We had no choice…" Hikari said quietly, her hand gently grasping Miyako's arm. "We had to defend ourselves, or else it would've been us, and Hawkmon and Gatomon."

"Right everyone, I've got it figured out, probably." Gennai said as he held the last card in his hand. "Everyone digimon and human get on that dais, and I'll put in the last card and then well, the next thing you'll know is Cloud."

"What about you?" Ken asked as he crowded onto the dais.

"I've got things to attend to, just because the world's falling apart doesn't mean I can just go leave my post!" Gennai said.

"That's when you usually do though!" Yamato retorted in a sing-song fashion.

"It's only what I let you think!" Gennai returned in a correspondingly sing-song fashion as he slotted the last card into place.

Before Yamato or anyone else could respond there was a loud vibrating vrrp and a bright flash of light.

888

The light faded from view. The children and their digimon appeared a few feet above the receiving dais and promptly fell to the ground. There was a mass struggle as each teenager realized their overly intimate position and their digimon squealed and giggled in the tussle to escape each other.

"WHO'S HAND IS THAT!?" Miyako screamed.

"I'm accounted for!" Ken said as he slowly stood straight and dusted himself off with a level of poise and decorum that had made him terribly frustrating as the Digimon Kaiser. He looked around to see that they were in a temple filled with marble pillars and long dark corridors. The ground seemed to be bathed in smoke, or clouds or something.

"Wait…sorry…that may be me…do you feel that?" Koushiro said as he twiddled his fingers.

"YES! PLEASE STOP THAT!" Miyako yelped. This was followed by a loud crack and the sound of pulsating flesh as somehow Miyako's palm met Koushiro's cheek through the labyrinth of legs and arms.

"OW!"

"Guys! Stop!" Takeru grumbled. "We do this every time…everyone just…calm down." Takeru's face suddenly turn bright red. "No really whoever is doing that STOP!"

"Ok, please tell me that's your paw, Salamon-" Hikari said quietly. She looked around to find Salamon with the other partner digimon who had easily extricated themselves and were now standing on the side of the pile. Hikari's eyes shot open. "Nope…that's a claw! That's a claw!"

"Sorry!" Flamon whispered and blushed brightly.

"Someone's butt is in my face!" Jyou grunted.

"I'm sorry but IORI WON'T GET HIS FOOT OFF MY HAND!" Mimi slowly rumbled into a roar.

"I'm sorry but my knee is pinned under Sora's shoulder…" Iori apologized.

"Guys can we just all put our hands up before one of us really regrets something!" Yamato said as he slowly tried to tug his hands free of the scrum.

"I already regret quite a bit!" Koushiro growled.

Miyako huffed loudly. "Well, you don't just twiddle your fingers when you're touching near a lady's-"

"Oi, try being a boy when someone's grabbing your-" Takeru cut in.

"MISTAKES WERE MADE BY ALL INVOLVED! Can we not talk about it!?" Taichi finally shouted. He glared over to Ken who was bemusedly smiling down at the others, standing to one side with the digimon who had largely had no problems escaping; well except for Flamon who was as tangled as others. If not slightly more so.

"Who is pulling my tail…and can they stop?" Flamon grunted as he tried to extricate himself from under Jyou's left knee.

"Someone's elbow is poking me in the back!" Taichi yelped.

"Uh…sorry…that's probably me" Yamato grumbled; his face pressed into Sora's stomach. "And that's not my…."

"KENSUKE ICHIJOUJI! Stop standing there and smiling, and help us out of this!" Taichi shouted as he reached for the lavender haired boy.

Ken helped the others slowly extricate themselves as their digimon giggled and watched from the side. The teenagers were all some deep shade of magenta by the time were free of each other, and Flamon was possibly an even deeper shade of red than he naturally was, he was very closely clutching his tail.

"Not exactly an artful display, now was it?" The kids all looked up to where the voice came from. A man shaped digimon with long, flowing bluish silver hair wearing what looked like a white and blue body suit walked gently forward.

"No, most certainly not." A thin figure that seemed to wrapped in bandages hovered over the man with the flowing hair. The thin figure had cords that fell from its shoulders as well its own lavish flowing black hair. "How would you describe it, my dear brother?"

"A most, chaotic display." Whispered what looked like a blue-skinned, armored Leomon with large arching metallic wings or spikes that nearly reached to the top of its head, a small blackened flame flickered above its head in the center of the 'wings' arches. "To believe they are the warriors of destiny that have saved this world so many times...most deplorable…"

"Definitely; deplorable." The thin figure said his mask covering his eyes. His thing limbs crossed over his chest. "To think, we traveled all the way here to do this…pitiable if you ask me…"

"I feel like I've seen this movie before…" Jyou said as he slowly placed his glasses on his head.

There was a massive explosion from behind the kids as four digimon erupted from underground. Marble rained down around the children. A giant bipedal dragon, an arrow weilding wood elf, a tomahawk swinging pirate, and a dark digimon bathed in shadows with large bat-like wings.

"Yep…that feels familiar…" Jyou grumbled as he winced and turned.

"Who are you guys!?" Flamon growled. "Are you the defenses of Cloud?"

"I hope we weren't that weak." The pirate growled as he glared down at the children from atop a pillar that the group of four leapt to.

"Then who are you?" Mimi asked as she looked back and forth between the group of three and four.

"Good question, do we have a name as a group?" The wood elf asked, rubbing his chin.

"Well, we do service the imminent inevitability of all things…" the vampiric digimon said.

"Good point, NeoMyotismon…" the thin figure said nodding.

"GOD DAMMIT! Another Myotismon!?" Yamato growled angrily. "Look, can we at least get a re-roll on that one…please? Skinny mummy-guy, Evil fire-Leomon, Pretty boy, Skeevy wood elf, Captain Douchebeard, Dragon-thing; you guys are fine; but I'm not going through another Myotismon…NOT AGAIN!"

"Matt!" hissed Sora loudly.

"No, you don't get it…he came back from death TWICE…that's two times more than normal for a mid-level bad guy! We're not doing it a third time!" Yamato shouted and crossed his arms over his chest. "I refuse!"

"Actually one of the people in New York had a Myotismon partner…." Mimi said quietly.

"WHAT!?" Yamato yelled.

"AHEM!" growled the man with flowing blue hair. "If this isn't a very important diversion…I believe we were menacing you…"

"That's why this feels familiar!" Jyou said snapping his fingers. "I knew it!"

"Yes, precisely so…" Splashmon grumbled.

"Yes, thank you, Splashmon…" the thin figure said to the pretty boy digimon. He lifted his ludicrously long arms. "As NeoMyotismon…"

"LAME!" Yamato shouted only to yelp as Sora rammed his ribs with an elbow.

"…was pointing out," the thin digimon continued with a small frown, "seeing as we serve the Nothing; maybe our name should reflect that…"

"The Nothing Squad!" the dragon nodded sharply.

"What, no! That holds no poetry at all, Dorbickmon!" the one called Splashmon said.

"The Dark Masters!" The pirate grunted.

"I like that one!" The little wood elf nodded.

"I believe, that's been taken, Olegmon, Zamielmon." NeoMyotismon said.

"Any suggestions, Whispered Apollomon?" the thin digimon asked the armored Leomon.

"The Death Generals…" whispered the lion.

The thin digimon snapped its long fingers and a broad smile played across its lower face. "Yes, that's good. We are the seven generals of death itself! Zamielmon, the unavoidable archer! Dorbickmon the ultimate predatory beast! Olegmon the tireless berserker! NeoMyotismon the shadow of the scythe! Splashmon the inescapable tide! Whispered Apollomon the eclipse of life…and myself…Gravimon…" The thin digimon turned his hand and pinched his fingers together. "The force not even light can escape!"

Before the children and their digimon could react they dropped to their knees as if a great weight had been put upon them. Soon they were all face forward, cheeks smashed against the marble floor.

"What's happening?" Mimi grunted as she felt her face being pushed into the floor of the temple.

"I think he's ramping up our personal gravity!" winced Koushiro. "We're getting crushed under our own weight…"

"Perceptive, human. Shame knowing is only half the battle…so long, children; so long, digimon; so long, everything, ever!" Gravimon said as he clenched his hand into a fist.

The floor cracked, the marble stonework snapped and there was a plume of marble dust and the children were gone.

 **888**

 **AN: I know, I know…I know….it's been a trying period this last…most of a year…this chapter was really hard to get out…largely because I had nowhere to go with what I had…and even now I am…having thoughts…anyways we're here and at the end of the day…I'm kinda happy with it in general(s?) *finger guns (Eh, yeah it's a pun wooo!)*….*sighs* why did I pick a group with seven members in it though…*wipes hand over face* Imma gret this; aren't I? And then I'll regret it…..**


	14. Tempest in a Tea Cup

**Tempest in a Tea Cup**

 **888**

Jyou groaned quietly as he slowly opened his eyes. There was a crack that splintered his vision. He grimaced as the numb pain of having fallen through a marble floor an unknown number of meters throbbed through his body. He grunted and slowly lifted his hand up into the darkness.

"Are we dead yet?" Jyou said in a groaning tone.

"I don't think so…" he heard Matt reply about five feet away.

"Raise your hand if you kinda wish we were..." Jyou grunted as slowly tried to sit up. He looked around himself but couldn't see anything in the darkness. "I can't see anyone raising their hands but I'm going to just assume everyone is…"

"That's not very nice…" He heard Gomamon's voice next to him.

"None of this is…" Jyou grunted as he reached over and felt for the red Mohawk of the seal and finding it, gently ruffled it. He took a deep breath and stood up; dusting pebbles, rocks and other stuff of his sweater vest. He adjusted his cracked glasses and sighed loudly, "but I guess we're the only ones able to or willing to deal with it so…we may as well get this done with…"

"That's the spirit!" He heard Patamon's voice cheer just over his shoulder.

"How are you still this chipper!?" Jyou asked turning towards the voice.

"Wings…he has wings…" He heard Takeru glower quietly as the younger boy's feet scuffed across the uneven spoil pile.

"Apparently as soon as we were out of Gravimon's vision, his gravity powers stopped working…" Jyou heard Koushiro explain; he could hear Tentomon's wings buzzing nearby, getting closer. "That was lucky; if the marble hadn't failed we'd have been squished like peas; and it's good that it didn't last after he lost sight of us, or the acceleration from the fall would've killed us."

"Let me guess, also squished like peas?" Takeru asked.

"Estimated impact based upon how I felt; we'd not even have been squished peas; we'd have been atomized peas…" Koushiro said.

"Speaking of peas…" Jyou heard Agumon start.

"Ask Mimi if she's got anymore snacks." Jyou heard Tai reply before the little dinosaur's voice could continue the statement.

"Ack! Not everyone at once!" Mimi yelped as Jyou heard a cacophony of flaps, slaps, buzzes and padded footfalls zero onto a location slightly to his left and further down the pile.

"Can we get some light here?" Hikari asked.

Suddenly the entire cavern burst into a flickering red-tinted light as Flamon lifted a finger, producing a small ball of fire.

"Thanks!" Hikari said smiling to Flamon, the humanoid digimon blushed brightly and for a brief second the fire ball seemed to grow two sizes.

Jyou looked around him; he had apparently landed on the peak of the pile. There was something ironic about that but he wasn't sure what that would be. The other kids were standing on the rock fall; most of them were covered in marble dust, some had some pretty deep bruises and one or two has slowly oozing wounds. He found his duffle bag and skidded down to Miyako. Her left elbow was bleeding as there was a nasty scrape on her knee.

"Sit down." Jyou said quietly but sternly.

"Wha-?" Miyako started and then she saw the wounds and sat down. "I didn't even realize…gosh…"

"That's what I'm here for-" Jyou said quietly. "Nothing else feels wrong?"

"Umm, I don't feel anything weird…" Miyako said quietly.

"No broken ribs, or discomfort internally? All your limbs work right?" Jyou asked as he started to gently grab at the girl, pressing softly against her stomach and sides.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Miyako yelped and yanked herself away from Jyou.

"I'm palpating, to check you for any unnoticed injury!" Jyou growled in annoyance. "We went through some traumatic pressure followed by a 'who knows how far' of a fall onto rocks…you could have internal hemorrhage or…bloat…I don't know…but I should check just in case."

"Well, I'm not bloated, and I don't feel uncomfortable, at least I didn't until you started…'palpating' me!" Miyako returned indignantly.

"Right, fine-" Jyou said and turned to look up and saw Iori was rubbing his elbow. He got to his feet and moved to the young boy.

"You ok?" Jyou asked his younger protégé.

"I think so, just a little stiff…" Iori said as he rubbed his elbow.

"Let me see…" Jyou said gently taking Iori's arm and rolling up the sleeve of his tan shirt. He narrowed his eye as he looked at the slightly swollen elbow. "I think you just sprained it, but be careful ok?" Jyou reached into his duffle and pulled out a bottle of pills. "These are aspirin…" He looked around himself and saw Mimi surrounded by the gang of partner digimon all eating cookies. "Mimi, can you give me a bottle of water please?"

Mimi rustled around in her bag and pulled out a bottle and ran to Jyou. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah just need some water so he can take an aspirin." Jyou said as he opened the bottle and fished out a pill. Iori popped the pill into his mouth and downed some water. Jyou smiled and rustled the boy's hair. "Hopefully the inflammation goes down, but if it doesn't or it gets worse, tell me; ok? Don't try and carry too much, let it rest, we'll see if we can't find some ice or something later if we can, or at least some water to soak it."

Iori nodded quietly. Jyou turned and looked at Mimi. "You look pretty ok; just some bruises?"

"Yeah…" Mimi said as Jyou walked past her and skidded down the rock pile to Sora who had a red swelling on her forehead.

"Right…give me a second." Jyou said as he opened his bag and looked through it grabbing a pen-light. "Look into the light please…" He sighed a brief sigh of relief as he watched Sora's eyes dilate. "Good, was worried there for a second…Headache bad?" Sora furrowed her eyebrows and gave him a look that suggested he was an idiot. "Other than the obvious I mean…do you feel sleepy, or confused? Can you stand up please?"

Sora slowly stood up but winced as she put weight on her left ankle. Jyou knelt down and gently touched it. It felt slightly warm and puffy. Sora winced again.

"That hurts…" Sora reported as she gently dropped back down to a sitting position.

"Yeah it's a little sprained…" Jyou said as he took out some aspirin. "I'm hoping to keep the inflammation down with this until we can get somewhere where we can do proper treatment. If you can keep this ankle elevated for a bit while we appraise the situation that might help."

One by one he checked all the children. Most of them had only minor bumps or scrapes; some had sprained joints, but luckily no one had any broken bones or worse. Jyou was finishing with Ken when he felt someone standing behind him. He looked up to see Mimi smiling at him.

"What?" Jyou asked quietly.

"You're really good at this stuff." Mimi said quietly.

"I should be." Jyou replied as he was packing things back into his bag. "It's not like I haven't sort of been trained for this since I was in middle school or anything…"

"But I mean you always act like you're not ready, or act like your falling behind everyone else." Mimi said quietly as she sat down next to Jyou. "But look at what you're doing without prompting, just on instinct."

"I bandaged some boo-boos and gave out aspirin like they were M it's not like I'm triaging a MASH unit." Jyou said as he shook his head.

"But you shouldn't sell yourself short." Mimi smiled and reached out and patted Jyou on the shoulder. "You impress me, you know."

Jyou felt the blood flood his cheeks and he felt an uncomfortable smile crawl across his face. "Uh, th-thanks…."

"It's what I'm here for." Mimi said smiling and she stood up and walked towards the others.

888

"So – what? We're in the continent's basement?" Matt asked as they all huddled around Izzy's computer. The computer screen's glow was now augmented with several small torches that Flamon had lit with help from Mimi and Jyou.

"More or less." Izzy said. "Some kind of cavern under this temple above."

"It's remarkable that your laptop survived the fall!" Tentomon buzzed quietly.

"Should be more surprised at the Wi-fi signal I'm getting down here-" Izzy said as he looked at the screen; there were five pixels in the top left corner of the screen that had bugged out but otherwise the Pineapple laptop was fully functional. "Luckily I was able to get this map file that Gennai sent us…"

"Shame he couldn't have given us a file on those guys we met!" Takeru grumbled.

"Yeah, those guys were rough-" Iori said quietly. "What are we going to do about them?"

"I vote avoid them." Jyou said lifting a hand. "I mean we were pushed through the floor of a continent…I try and only do that twice in my life and I'm surprisingly close to my limit now…"

"If they are whatever it is we're fighting's flunkies we're going to have to face them eventually." Flamon said quietly as he looked at the screen, tilting his head slightly as he looked at his face reflected in the screen.

"Jyou might be right-" Taichi said quietly. "Those guys aren't our objective. Our objective is to get to that codex-thingy that Gennai was talking about."

"The problem is if the Nothing sent those guys after us, then it has to know about the codex." Sora said as she looked over to Taichi.

"Which means we need to protect it, or remove it, or somehow keep the bad guys from it." Flamon said pounding his fist into his free hand.

"Yeah!" Veemon said nodding. "We gotshta shtop 'em!"

"We're not even sure we can fight them." Mimi said as she looked down at Palmon worriedly. "I mean we've only been able to get you guys to your Champion level, and that was a surprise…who knows if we can do the rest of it."

"And some of us; just aren't in that kind of position to go Mega…" Hikari said quietly. She looked to Ken apologetically.

"Wait, we can evolve to a Mega level?" Salamon asked looking up in shock.

"Well, you used to be able to, with Hawkmon's help…" Miyako said off-handedly.

"Hawkmon!?" Salamon gulped with almost disgust.

"Oi, you'd be lucky to get my help to go to the Mega level, I'm a very rare resource indeed!" Hawkmon retorted haughtily. He looked up to Miyako. "Isn't that right, Miyako?"

"You are to me!" Miyako smiled trying to be reassuring as she patted his feathered head.

"See!" Hawkmon said confidently.

"I don't think that was the vote of confidence you think it was…" Salamon said with a giggle.

"First things first." Ken said quietly and yet with such authority as to drown out all the background noise. "We need to find the codex. Gennai said it was in the Rosa de Venus. So where is that?"

"Who wants to know?" A feminine voice asked from beyond the ring of fire.

The children and their digimon jumped up to their feet the digimon leapt forward, with Flamon and Veemon standing slightly before the other digimon. There was a huff of wind that swarmed through the cavern knocking out all of the flames. The entire cavern was now only lit by the constant muted glow of Izzy's computer.

"Who wants to know, err, about 'who wants to know?'?" Taichi asked not as confidently as Izzy assumed he'd tried to sound.

"A Guardian of Cloud." There was swooshing gust of wind that kicked dust into the air. "Who wants to know about the codex? About the Rosa de Venus?"

"We are the digi-destined!" Hikari said meekly as she walked forward. "We have been sent here by Gennai to find the codex to help us in a struggle against an evil force that looks to destroy the Digital World."

"Leave!" The voice shouted as a gale started to explode from the shadows.

"We're the good guys!" Jyou shouted as the wind roared across his face and he struggled to keep his glasses on his face. "We really don't have time for this!"

"Good, Evil, it matters not!" The voice howled over the wind, or through the wind. "The codex is not for use by the down below!"

"If we don't get to it first, the Nothing will!" Iori shouted as he put his arm up to cover his eyes. "And if the Nothing gets to it; this world will be destroyed!"

"Then the world will be destroyed. You will return to the lands below!" The voice said sharp as the wind. There was an additional blast of wind. "NOW!"

"This is stupid!" Flamon growled and opened his hands creating fire balls in his palms.

The cave flashed with flickering light. The voice now had form. Izzy blushed; it wasn't an unappealing form at least. A female humanoid digimon with butterfly like wings was holding its hands out and tendrils of wind swooshed from its palms. The digimon frowned and launched herself at Flamon.

"V-headbutt!" Veemon yelped and launched forward.

The female digimon placed her hand on the little blue dragon's forehead pushing the little dragon into the ground. She pivoted over him all the while executing a tornado of spinning kicks that caught Flamon in the solar-plexus and sent him flying backwards into the rest of the digimon who toppled backwards like a crowd of ten-pins. The butterfly woman then land and pointed to the children as a tiny ball of a maelstrom formed at the tip of her finger.

"Leave, or be deleted-" The woman said sharply.

"Wait, wait, wait! Time the hell out!" Matt yelped as he ran forward with his hands in a T-shape. "I have a sneaking suspicion we may have gotten off on the wrong foot…."

"Admittedly a lot of it was her just coming out of nowhere and attacking us…" Takeru grumbled.

"Not now, TK!" Matt snapped back to his younger brother. He turned his attention back to the digimon that was glaring at them through a metal visor. He smiled congenially, "I'm Yamato Ishida, the holder of the Crest of Friendship, you may have heard of it from prior world saving adventures…" The female digimon didn't seem to respond. Yamato glowered slightly whispering to himself audibly "Ultimate repository of the Digital World information my butt…." He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes again. He sighed loudly and started again with a smile. "We're the digi-destined, chosen ones? Really nothing?" Look I realize the world went through a reformat; but this place was supposed to be like some kind of giant save point repository for the world; right?"

Matt looked to Izzy for some encouragement. Izzy blinked for a second and then snapped to attention. "Right, yeah, Cloud, big ol' repository of data…so the digimon can be reborn, if Gennai is being honest…" Izzy seemed unsure for a second, "which admittedly, I've increasingly come to the opinion that he's…"

"You can look us up later…" Matt cut Izzy off. He looked to the female digimon. "You must know about the bad stuff that's going on downstairs. There's these big bad guys that showed up, and plan on wrecking up the place to help this other bad guy destroy all of reality or something…" Matt explained, "Because that's the thing bad guys do and we don't want to do that so we're not the bad guys…"

"You know of the enemies that attacked the gates?" The woman growled. The maelstrom seemed to only intensify.

"You've met the Doom Patrol!? Great!" Matt said perking up slightly. The woman seemed to glower at this. Matt blanched and gave an apologetic expression. "I mean, must've been horrible…"

"They killed two of my fellow guardians!" the woman sneered. "I will not allow further interlopers!"

"Funny thing though-" Matt continued as he threaded his fingers together into a steeple. "You and us, we're on the same side…we don't like them either…that's why we're here…actually…"

"And factually!" Mimi said as she pointed upwards. "They literally pushed us through the floor and that's how we got down here…"

"Not. Helping. Mimi!" Matt growled backwards as he gave a side-long look back to the girl. He looked to the woman. He started to walk forward, his hands rolling in front of him as he spoke. "So, I'm thinking, you don't like those guys, we're not super enamored with them either…maybe you and us… we, you know, could collaborate and if while collaborating we get to the codex, great and if not..."

"You won't." The woman said glaring down at Matt. "You will leave, now."

"And we're back to the beginning…" Matt sighed dropping his head and shaking it.

"What's your name?" Sora asked quietly as she walked forward. "Sorry, realized we didn't ask…"

"I am Kazemon, Guardian of the Winds of Cloud." The woman stated as she looked to the auburn haired girl.

"My name is Sora Takenouchi." The girl approached slowly. "I know this must all seem weird and…frightening."

"I fear nothing!" The female digimon retorted.

"Minotauromon droppings!" Flamon grunted as he glared up at the woman as he lay atop the pile of spilled over digimon. "Everyone fears something…it's just a question of facing it. So why are you down here, threatening the only people fighting the thing trying to destroy the world, when the real bad guys are upstairs probably getting their hands on the thing they need to destroy the world!?"

Flamon leapt to his feet. The woman seemed to shunt her attention to the little digimon. "I am here to remove infection from Cloud! Where I start matters not!"

"Liar!" Flamon snorted; puffs of smoke billowing from his nostrils.

"Probably not wise to annoy the angry wind lady-" hissed Gomamon from the bottom of the pile.

"You said they already killed two of your friends, which means you already encountered them!" Flamon snorted, glaring at Kazemon. "You're scared of them; that's why you're hiding down here threatening a bunch of dumb humans-"

"Oi!" Matt yelled.

"and Rookie Digimon." Flamon continued completely ignoring the blonde teenager. "Well, I'm not going to be stopped from trying to save my friends by a coward…so get out of my way…or else!"

"Or else what!?" the other kids yelped in fear.

"Or else I'll move her out of the way!" Flamon snorted as his hands erupted into flames. The other digimon were jumping to their feet and lining up behind Flamon.

"I would like to see you try!" The butterfly woman said as she brought her arms up and the cave was filled with a tidal wave of wind that seemed to suck the very air out of the children's lungs.

Flamon growled angrily and leapt forward and leveled a punch to the wind digimon's cheek. Kazemon staggered backward as Flamon dropped to the ground. He brought his arms back as he cupped his hands. Fire swirled around his arms and pooled into his palms.

"Baby Salamander!" Flamon shouted as he thrust his palms forward releasing a burst of fire towards the female digimon.

The female digimon sliced her hand through the flames releasing a blade of wind that smashed into Flamon and sent the little ogre flying backwards. That's when the other digimon leapt forward, the little Rookies releasing their attacks on the female digimon, who dismissed them all with little more than a backhand of a breeze. The Rookies charged her and were just about to jump her en masse when…

"STOP IT! ALL OF YOU!" Hikari shouted loudly. She was clenching her fists to her side; tears were running down her cheeks. "Stop it….stop it…please…just stop!"

The Rookies all looked back at their human partners who were all looking to Hikari.

"Kari-" Takeru started.

"Why are you fighting us? We all want the same thing…" Hikari cried as she walked forward. "We all just want to protect the Digital World. I realize you have all these rules about who is and isn't allowed on Cloud and you're trying your best with what's going on…but we really need your help. We have been fighting this thing for a while now; we already lost someone to it…" Hikari sniffed loudly. "And we just, we just need to get to this codex, and we need to find a way of stopping those bad guys from getting to the codex and maybe if you are willing we could use the codex to find the friend we lost…we don't mean anyone any harm; we're trying to help. Please…just listen to us…" Hikari looked to the female digimon and walked up to her. "We don't want to fight you, we really don't…and I don't think you really want to fight us."

Kazemon looked down at Hikari her hand lifted a pool of air swirling right in front of the little beige-haired girl. Hikari didn't flinch, she didn't cower; she just looked sorrowfully up at the digimon. Kazemon pursed her lips and clenched her hand into a fist, dispelling the wind.

"There is an opening to these caverns that way." Kazemon said, pointing. "That opening is at the edge of a mountain range, across the valley is the Rosa de Venus and inside the Rosa de Venus resides the codex of the Digital World…"

"Thank you…" Hikari said, bowing to the digimon.

"I can see it in your eyes. You have lost someone important to these monsters…" Kazemon said quietly. She looked away from the children. "I am the last Guardian of Cloud, I cannot defeat this infestation alone…I will need help."

"We will do what we can," Hikari said quietly, "but we must go fast…"

"Then we must go now." Kazemon replied. "The automated defenses of the castle will not hold out for long against the likes of them."

Kazemon took to the wing and glided over the children. Hikari turned and walked over to Flamon and reached out to him. He grasped her hand with his and she helped him to his feet.

"I'm sorry-" Flamon said with a tinge of embarrassment.

"Don't be." Kari said quietly, shaking her head. She looked in Flamon's amber eyes and smiled warmly. He seemed unable to smile back. Hikari tilted her head slightly. "You remind me of him, he'd have done something boneheaded and stupid, too…and it'd have been for the right reasons just like what you did…" She reached up with her hand and patted the mane of hair on Flamon's head, the digimon blushed brightly, "and usually he could save it in the end." Her smile faded slightly and she seemed sad again. "Just…not all the time…"

"All the more reason to get him back then, huh?" Flamon said rubbing the back of his head as he blushed brightly. "I would sure hate to see someone like that disappear when he makes you smile like that!"

Hikari nodded and turned, picking up Salamon. Veemon hopped up to Flamon and the fire-goblin smiled and patted Veemon on the head and watched as the children started to follow Kazemon deeper into the cavern. His eyes turned to Hikari again and for a mere second he thought he could feel his heart skip a beat, and he wasn't even sure he had a heart. Flamon followed after the children with Veemon at his side, but he was not the last to leave the chamber. A red light glimmered in the darkness as a metallic spidery leg stepped out from the darkness. A camera focused in on the retreating group of digi-destined and their allies….

And somewhere far away from Cloud, there frowned a very angelic face.

 **888**

 **AN: I know not a lot happens in these chapters, but the interactions are fun….and this actually came out kinda fast (well if I'm honest stupid fast…as well…I'm still stopped up on this story so…yeah…this was a bonus kindness so if the next chapter doesn't show up until next Christmas…don't be surprised…). Even though we didn't seem to progress terribly far… we actually progressed further than I thought we would…at least on some fronts….**

 **I like to think of Matt as the schmoozer of the group. The front man; Taichi may be the leader and capable of putting together some rousing speeches; but when it comes to the sort of guy that can connive his way into the bar it's Matt….especially after 02. Like it's not his real personality; but it's a coat he can wear whenever he needs to…but he's also not the ace of it yet, so in situations like this he over-estimates his schmoozability (It also doesn't help that he kinda just…wants to get the job done and go home)….I mean he's not his father….am'iright?**


	15. Restoration

**Restoration**

 **888**

Gennai grunted as he hauled himself up the final step. He tapped the granite floor with his walking stick.

"Definitely need some kind of escalator." Gennai snorted as he turned and looked down the near mile of steps.

He turned and walked through the gaping opening into the temple. The statuary and pillars were damaged. Moss was growing languidly anywhere where sunlight dropped through the holes in the ceiling. The inner chamber of the temple opened creating a great hall ringed with benches. A low, cold breeze wafted through the chamber; leaves crackled and twirled as they bounced and scraped against the stone work.

So long ago, in worlds past, this hall was filled. There used to be so many like him, he winced as his joints pinged with pain. He felt his chest burn slightly and he took a deep harried breath; bracing his weight against his walking stick. He slowly staggered to one of the benches and ingloriously deposited himself upon it.

"How much longer?" He whispered quietly as he looked at his craggy arthritic hands. "How much longer am I expected to carry this torch, to usher this victory? Because I'm not sure I can – anymore. I can't keep doing this; I can't keep burning my body out just to stay one second ahead of some inevitable fate. I know you forget it, but we aren't immortal….we're just…really annoyingly persistent." He felt another stab pulse out from his chest. He winced, his hand clenching tightly against the pain. "When is it my turn? When do I get my reward? I have served you for so many epochs. I have given you everything. I gave you everyone else. Are you even there? Do you even care? Or have you retreated to your unassailable crystal kingdom at the center of everything?" Gennai struggled to look up at the statue of the sainted bodhisattva. He pushed himself to his feet. "I can't give you more…. I can't-I just can't-"

He turned and started to walk away. A warm wind swirled around him and rushed eagerly behind him towards an altar at the front of the temple.

"A lost soul staring into the night-"A voice said quietly from the front of the temple chamber. "The pessimistic prophet, always, always is seeing destruction, rather than the alternative."

"Alternative?" Gennai grunted not turning. "This world is collapsing, it doesn't know it yet, but it will do, soon enough…and when it goes…"

"Catastrophe."

"Putting it a bit lightly there." Gennai replied. "And you say there's an alternative?"

"Always."

"And it is?"

"Them."

A breeze swirled up and a light glowed from the ceiling. Gennai looked up. The ceiling panels numbered nine. Each one imprinted with a sigil. Each sigil was glowing softly.

"The children are not enough this time." Gennai said quietly. "Already one of them is lost to the darkness…"

"Not lost…"

"He was deleted, I didn't have the heart to-" Gennai breathed heavily through his nose as his chest stabbed with pain.

"Nothing was deleted in the reboot only- reconceptualized."

"The whole point of it was to restore the Digital World to a state before-" Gennai shook his head and turned.

Nine digi-armors were sitting on the altar.

"That which can be remembered, can be found, restored; nothing is lost forever-"

"So he survived?" Gennai said a little more cheerfully as he walked towards the altar.

There was only silence as a response. A blush of warm wind swept past him, and the temple seemed far colder again.

888

"Stop!" Hikari said sharply as the group walked forward through the caves. She closed her eyes, wincing slightly.

"What's wrong Hikari?" Salamon asked.

"It was near…" Hikari whispered quietly.

"It?" Takeru asked.

"Homeostasis or Shakamon or whatever it is…" Hikari said quietly.

"Really?" Koushiro asked as he pushed forward. "Are you sure?"

"I think so-" Hikari whispered as she put her fingers to her temples, "but it was really faint like…"

The D-terminals of Miyako, Iori, Ken, Takeru and Hikari went off.

"The digi-armors!" Miyako said quickly. "Gosh, I'd completely forgotten about them!"

Another D-terminal chimed from Ken's pants' pocket. He pulled out Daisuke's D-terminal.

"Daisuke's too…" Ken said quietly.

"Digi-armors?" Kazemon looked confused.

"These armors that let some of our digimon digivolve to an armored form…" Iori explained quietly.

"That's gotta be a good sign!" Flamon said looking to Hikari. "I mean if whoever sent the armors must definitely think Daisuke would need them and they wouldn't if he was-"

Veemon jabbed Flamon in the stomach and vigorously shook his head 'no' and lifted a clawed finger to his lips.

"Shame then, isn't it?" snarled a voice from behind the children. "That he's not around to use them!"

"That voice!" Kazemon clenched her fists as the draconic form of Dorbickmon emerged from the cave shadows.

"Ay, Olegmon we found that little butterfly girl, too!" another voice said, the sharp features of the woodland archer Zamielmon seemed to melt away from the cave walls.

"How convenient! One-stop pillaging!" The hulking form of the Viking pirate chortled as he lifted his ax. "Mind you, we should just be quick and cut them up and feed them to the fishes!"

"How did you even find us!?" Flamon snarled.

"Ah, the boss, he's much more thorough than we are." Olegmon replied as he looked up, a hovering robotic spider glided by. "I can tell you, Gravimon was right embarrassed by his little mistake."

"So he sent you three stooges down here to fix it?" Yamato grumbled.

"Figured we three were the only ones required for the likes of you." Olegmon snorted.

"We'll see about that!" Kazemon shouted as she brought her hands up and the cave became a tumult of wind and fury.

"Ah come now, little chickadee…" Zamielmon sneered. "Iffin' you were that dangerous we wouldn't be sitting here have this little conversation…"

"You caught us off guard, unprepared-" Kazemon returned as wind swirled around her.

"And she's not alone!" Taichi said as he stepped forward. Agumon was at his side.

"Ha, they wanna scrap!" The dragon growled chuckling. "You lot could hardly put up a fight last time!"

"Well, thish time we're ready!" Veemon yelped leaping forward.

"I'd hang back if I were you," whispered Ken quietly as he stood forward taking half a step with Wormmon in front of Veemon. He lifted his D-3. The dark haired boy looked down at Veemon and smiled. "We might need you later for the clean-up."

"Huh?" Veemon looked up.

"Don't worry; we got this." Flamon said looking back to Veemon and lifting a thumbs-up as his skin started to crackle into flame.

"Fine then, let's do it!" Dorbickmon snarled and started to charge forward.

Kazemon launched forward, wind burning in front of her as suddenly her butterfly wings flashed becoming long aquiline wings. Her gloved hands became gauntleted with long bestial claws. The digimon formally Kazemon slashed forward and sent Dorbickmon staggering backwards in surprise as his chest glowed with a red cut across his chest armor.

"Oh, our little lady can digivolve eh?" Zamielmon chuckled as he watched Dorbickmon.

"It doona matter, she'll split all the same!" Olegmon chuckled as he pulled his axes.

He swung and the female digimon leapt landing deftly onto one of the blade and immediately turned on the blade swinging her leg up and smacking Olegmon in the face with her clawed foot. The pirate growled and swatted at her with his other axe but she was already gone, having taken to the air.

"Ok, wait…they weren't this good before!" Dorbickmon growled.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." The female said as wind swarmed around her and dropped down like a comet towards the three digimon.

There was a loud screeching sound of wind being stretched thin as she emerged covered in armor, with metallic wings and a large pinwheel sword that she sliced forward. Blades of wind sliced forward drilling into the dragon as he struggled to cover himself with his arms. The blades sliced angrily through his armor cutting him harshly across his body.

"Arrow Lance!" A giant arrow sliced down shooting the pinwheel blade from the female digimon. This was then followed by a hail of arrows that drilled the female digimon into the ground.

"Sorry, I'm going to have to put an end to that, nonsense…" Zamielmon said. "But really you and your friends really should've broke out those moves earlier…would've been less disappointing."

"I'll show you less disappointing!" Flamon shouted charging forward his body completely bathed in flame. "Baby-"

A battle axe swatted the flame ogre and the fire ball was sent sailing into a wall.

"Yer, right, tha' was disappointin'." Olegmon laughed.

"Flamon!" Veemon and Hikari shouted as they ran towards the humanoid digimon.

"Breastrionic Fire!" Dorbickmon rose from his previously defensive position and blew a stream of flames towards Hikari and Veemon.

"KARI!" Salamon yelped as the little puppy kitten leapt in front of the girl. The little mammal glowed and leapt forward twisting and sweeping her now long tail down in front of the flames. Gatomon was hurled backward as the flames slammed into her.

"Gatomon!" Hikari yelped as she ran towards the feline.

"Ish she ok?" Veemon asked as he skidded to a stop.

"I am fine…" Gatomon grunted slightly trying to sit up but finding the effort taxing.

"You're hurt…" Hikari whimpered.

"Don't worry little one…she won't be the only one hurting when we're finished!" Zamielmon chuckled as he lifted his gauntleted hand up an arrow was loaded onto it and was pointed at Hikari. "Arrow-"

What happened next could only be called an orchestra of light that roared and soared forward. The weight of a giant tiger-striped tyrannosaur and very angry angel bore down on him. Olegmon quickly found himself pressed upon by a giant, blue beetle and a heavy white-furred walrus were smashing into him.

Dorbickmon was the most confused as a very punchy cactus, a giant, flaming bird, an ankylosaur and a horned eagle came steaming towards him. All the while a wolf was lancing him with blasts of blue flame.

"Digi-armor, energize!" Ken shouted pointing his D-3 to Wormmon.

"Wormmon armor digivolve to…Puttimon the Strong Heart of Kindness!" The caterpillar transformed into a cuddly teddy bear in rubbery pink armor. The new digimon looked down at itself. "Wow…I didn't…"

"Not now, we gotta go help Flamon, Gatomon and Kazemon!" Ken said as he ran towards them. He skidded to a stop near to Gatomon. Hikari was holding her in her arms. "Puttimon can you heal her?"

"Heal…I err…" Puttimon furrowed its brows. It then shrugged its shoulders and pointed a rubbery finger at the feline. "We'll give it a try! If nothing else she'll feel better! Heartner Beam!"

The glow faded and Puttimon tilted its head.

"Well, how do you feel now?" Hikari asked Gatomon.

"What did you put in that beam…cat nip?" Gatomon asked as she leapt into the air and did several flips and landed on her feet baring the claws on her front paws. "Let me at em!"

"Oh ge' off me you prehistoric poser and ya's cloud walkin' pretty boy!" Zamielmon snarled as he twisted and his long extendable arms smashed Greymon and Angemon into the ground.

"How dare you do this to us!" Dorbickmon snarled and with the roar exploded outward with flames; knocking the gaggle of digimon back off of him.

"Yar!" Olegmon roared as he grabbed Ikkakumon by the horn and tossed him into Kabuterimon, drilling the two digimon into the wall of the cavern. "Caught me off guard but I'll be making you take a long walk on a short pier soon, boyos!" The pirate pulled his battle axes out of the ground and prepared to strike.

"Come on guys let's step it up a notch!" Taichi shouted pointing his D-3 forward there was an orange sun-like symbol glowing on its face.

"Greymon digivolve to Metal Greymon!" The tyrannosaur under Zamielmon's grip glowed, increased in size and sprouted metal filament wings as well as a significant metal accoutrements, its blue and orange tail swung up and smacked Zamielmon in the face, and when released turned sweeping its new metal claw pinning the archer to a wall.

"Digi-armor energize!" Takeru opened his D-terminal.

The armor formed briefly before becoming a mote of light that surged to Angemon. The angel became emblazoned in golden light.

"Angemon Armor Synthesis digivolve to-" The golden light peeled away revealing a lavender helmed angel with a lavender energy blade. "MagnaAngemon….the Harbinger of HOPE!"

Without much coaxing the other digi-destined digimon all formed into their next level forms, except for Puttimon who watched in awe as the others leapt back into the charge.

Zudomon's hammer smashed against Olegmon's battle axes as MegaKabuterimon fired a bolt of electricity against the pirate's heavy shoulders. Gatomon's became the angelic Angewomon and fired a bolt of light from her angel-winged bow towards Zamielmon who was currently pulling himself from MetalGreymon's metallic clutches. WereGarurumon leapt above Dorbickmon's head and came slamming down both fists entwined together and being brought down as a giant hammering punch on the dragon's head as Lillymon swarmed around the dragon trying to snare him in lianas of flowers. The others unleashed a barrage on Dorbickmon that send the dragon caterwauling backwards.

"MagnaAngemon, let's take out the trash!" Takeru shouted.

The lavender helmed digimon nodded and slashed the air in front of him. "Gate of Destiny!"

"No you don't!" Zamielmon snorted and swung a lanky fist into MetalGreymon's chin and leapt free swinging his other arm around and firing arrows at Angewomon would barely escaped. He pulled the massive arrow from his back and launched it at the forming gate, shattering it. Zamielmon snarled loudly. "Pathetic, little twerps! You should've just laid back and let us finish you off! All this effort…all this struggle!" MetalGreymon reached out towards the woodland imp and WereGarurumon was running towards him. Zamielmon glowered angrily. "I'm ending this now! GET OUT OF MY MASTER'S WAY! ARROW LANCE TIMES ONE THOUSAND!"

There air was filled with arrows. The children leapt behind rock formations as their digimon moved to shield them. Even Olegmon and Dorbickmon growled as the barrage swarmed past them. MetalGreymon and WereGarurumon crashed to the ground as they took the brunt of it and reverted to their Rookie form. The digimon that had been Kazemon was once again the butterfly-winged digimon and crawling towards a rocky outcropping shielding Flamon and Veemon. The other kids' Ultimate digimon dropped to the ground but did not quite revert to their baser forms.

The hail of arrows ceased. Taichi and Yamato ran to Agumon and Gabumon. The other kids rushed to their partners. Above them Zamielmon seethed, glaring down at them.

"Powerless, infantile, a waste of energy…" Zamielmon was growling from above.

"Agumon are you ok?" Taichi asked as he held the little dinosaur.

"Yeah, just he caught me off guard…" Agumon said as the little dinosaur stood up.

"Gabumon, buddy, are you hurt?" Yamato asked.

"Not badly, he just sucker punched us…" Gabumon said.

The two little digimon nodded to each other. "We could take him if we had a little more power; he's just a little too tough!"

The two boys looked at each other and nodded and held out their D-3s.

"I guess, this is the best time to test if we still got the old stuff or not!" Taichi said as the D-3 started to squeal.

"Worst case scenario we'll look like idiots." Yamato said, he looked back to the other digi-destined. "But it's just our friends, so it won't be anything new!"

"What's this?" Agumon said slightly startled as his body started to glow.

"Are you guys really this strong?" Gabumon asked as a blue light flowed around him.

"Agumon-"

"Gabumon-"

"Warp digivolve to-"the two little digimon said together as they flashed through their two other forms.

"WarGreymon!" the dragon warrior flew from the light.

"MetalGarurumon!" the lupine cyborg rocketed upward next to the dragon warrior.

Zamielmon blanched visibly as the two Mega digimon charged towards him.

"Donna worry, Zams! We're a-comin'!" shouted Olegmon.

"Zudomon!" Koushiro shouted

"MegaKabuterimon!" Jyou yelped.

"Stop them!" the two shouted together and pointed their D-3s forward. "Let's show them how we do things!"

The two digimon looked at each other and then their partners as their forms were engulfed in light.

"MegaKabuterimon-"

"Zudomon-"

"DNA digivolve to-" The light revealed a massive heavily armored turtle. "JumboGamemon!"

The turtle turned and swung its tail around catching Olegmon in the chest and pinning him onto the ground. Dorbickmon snarled and flung blasts of fire towards JumboGamemon

"Hey, that's not fair!" Mimi shouted.

"Let's go, Mimi!" Sora said as she lifted her D-3.

Mimi nodded and followed Sora's lead.

Garudamon and Lillymon looked at each other incredulously and then looked to JumboGamemon. They didn't get much time to mull the potential of their combination as the D-3s' light engulfed them.

"Garudamon-"

"Lillymon-"

"DNA digivolve to-" The cave seemed to get three sizes larger as the opalescent light of a giant six-winged bird filled the cave revealing its true size. "Valdurmon!"

Dorbickmon's fire balls puffed out and dispersed as Valdurmon wheeled over him.

"Guys, you need to get going!" Taichi shouted back to the younger kids. "We can handle these three. Take Kazemon, get to the codex! We'll catch up to you!"

Ken nodded and found Kazemon and with Puttimon's help got her on her feet and started running. Flamon, the other kids and their Ultimate digimon also retreated.

"See!" Hikari said to Angewomon who was flying above her. "That's how you and Silphymon turn into Ophanimon!"

"That is impressive if that's true!" Angewomon said.

"IF!?" Silphymon could be heard shouting as the younger kids fled.

"It's not far now." Kazemon said quietly as the kids started to get away from the sound of the battle behind them.

The glow of Valdurmon slowly was replaced with a different kind of light. A cold sweep of air pushed past them from ahead. An arch was up ahead. The light from outside was too bright to discern beyond the opening. The group rushed to leave the catacombs and took a deep breath of the fresh air.

The girls took off with their accompanied digimon. Iori was grasped by Shakkoumon who hovered ponderously out of the cavern over the abyss that was so deep its bottom was imperceptible. Takeru grasped onto MagnaAngemon. Flamon, Veemon and Ken looked over to Puttimon.

"I mean I could try…" Puttimon said meekly.

"Or…" Ken said lifting his hand and showing off the Digimental of Kindness.

"Really!?" Puttimon said with such joy that he squirmed. The little rubber armored teddy bear returned to his caterpillar origins and then evolved to Stingmon. "Stingmon, Armor Synthesis Digivolve to DinoBeemon the Strong Heart of Kindness!"

Flamon, Veemon and Ken scrambled onto DinoBeemon's back. Kazemon watched as they thundered after the others and took off behind them. As they took off the cave entrance behind them exploded outward as Valdurmon was sent rushing upwards into the sky as magenta flames erupted from the mountainside.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Kazemon asked.

"Our target is getting to the codex, Taichi and the others can handle themselves, I know it." Ken said sharply.

888

"Sutr, Jorganmundr, come out!" Olegmon roared as his shoulders opened and two spirit forms rushed towards JumboGamemon.

The massive be-cannoned turtle met the two spirits with its cannon-hands pinning the spirits with and then driving them into the ground. The cannons then fired and the spirits dispersed into data. JumboGamemon growled and turned towards Olegmon. A few minutes later the pirate berserker was smashed against the wall by a pressurized torrent of water.

"Purge Shine!" Valdurmon screeched from the ceiling of the cave. The light erupted into an opalescent blast the sent Zamielmon crashing to the ground his quiver of arrows set to flame.

"Metal Wolf Claw!"

"Terra Force!"

MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon launched their attacks forward into Dorbickmon. The giant red dragon roared as he thrust his hands forward, his palms erupting with flame against the incoming blast. The flames washed around the entwining ice and orange energy and smashed Dorbickmon in the chest tossing the dragon roaring backwards.

"I think we're done here." Yamato stated as he stared down at the group of digimon.

"Go to your master, tell him that whatever he's planning, he's beat." Taichi said standing next to Yamato, "because we're back, and we're not having any of what he's selling."

"You really think, this is a victory?" Dorbickmon snarled.

"We got you on the ground, beaten; I don't know what else you'd call it?" Jyou said as he adjusted his glasses.

"I'd call it the first and second course…" Dorbickmon snarled.

With lightning fast reflexes the children watched as the dragon digimon rammed his claws into Zamielmon who was nearby and tore out the wood-elf's digi-core. WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon moved to attack but Dorbickmon was already at Olegmon driving his claws into the pirate. Dorbickmon turned his head and sneered at the children.

"You, you…killed your friends!" Mimi screamed.

"Friends? More like, auxiliary fuel tanks…" Dorbickmon returned as he pushed the cores into himself. The children lifted their arms as a pulse of energy rocked the cavern. The shadows of the cave seemed to twist and swarm into where Dorbickmon was positioned. The dragon's form changed as massive leathery wings unfurled and sickly lavender flames seemed to wash around him. "Welcome to your end, for this is my Darkness Mode…"

"Mode change…" Koushiro said taking a step back. "This could be bad…"

"Could be?" Sora asked as rocks started to fall.

"Everyone retreat!" Taichi shouted as the dragon roared loudly and the cave started to shutter.

"Protect the kids!" shouted WarGreymon as he rushed towards Dorbickmon.

MetalGarurumon and JumboGamemon charged after WarGreymon. Valdurmon dropped down putting herself between the children and Dorbickmon. The children rushed to the gates of the cave entrance and passed the threshold as the cave burst open even wider and their partner digimon were flung unceremoniously into the sky. Dorbickmon was now in the air, magenta flames swirling around him. JumboGamemon crashed onto the mountain side and rolled down inartfully landing on a ledge. Valdurmon likewise crumbled onto the ground near the children.

WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon hung in the air between the children and Dorbickmon. The dragon thrust his arms forward and the spirals of magenta flame twisted around them and fired forward toward the two remaining Mega digimon.

"WarGreymon! MetalGarurumon!" Taichi and Yamato shouted. "You gotta fight back!"

The two digimon seemed to jolt awake. WarGreymon launched himself forward and swung his brave shields forward meeting the blasts of magenta fire. From behind WarGreymon came the multitudinous missiles from MetalGarurumon's missile ports. The projectiles exploded across Dorbickmon, covering him in a solidifying layer of coolant. WarGreymon closed his gauntlets together and started to spin as the energy of the Terra Force swirled around him and he drove claws first towards the frozen Dorbickmon.

Just as WarGreymon was about to connect the ice shattered, as massive magenta inflamed fist smashed into the side of the twisting tornado and WarGreymon was sent spinning towards the mountainside. MetalGarurumon fired beams of ice at Dorbickmon as the dragon charged forward in a rage. A double-fisted hammer slammed down upon MetalGarurumon and the cyborg wolf crashed to the ground. Dorbickmon's fist, engulged in magenta flames, lifted and he turned to the children.

"DRAMON DESTROYER!" WarGreymon roared his gauntlets poised to slice the dragon.

Dorbickmon turned and twisted bringing the fist to bear into WarGreymon's chest and sending the golden-armored warrior tumbling backwards and crashing next to MetalGarurumon. The dragon snarled loudly as he looked down at the two Mega digimon and then to Valdurmon and JumboGamemon. His eyes glared to the children.

"I think you are done here, just not in the way you thought." Dorbickmon snarled as his murderous eyes glared at them. He swung his arms out and swept them in a giant circle so that his hands met in the middle of his chest. A ball of fire swirled into existence in the space between his hands.

"It can't end like this…" Mimi said.

"Run." Taichi said looking back to the others. "Run now!"

"What about you?" Sora asked.

"I'll keep him distracted." Taichi said.

"How?" Mimi yelped.

"JUST GO!" Taichi shouted; his eyes narrowed and were fierce.

Sora, Mimi, Koushiro and Jyou turned and started to run down a trail that led around the mountain. Yamato stood next to Taichi.

"That meant you, too." Taichi growled.

"And? Since when have you ever been able to get me to do anything that I didn't want to?" Yamato asked as he grabbed his hand. "We're sticking together."

"Plan?" Taichi asked.

"None, except maybe…" Yamato said as he pointed to some rocks.

The two boys leapt from their position diving towards the rocks as Dorbickmon unleashed the blast, which swept out across the rock shelf and into the open air.

"Run all you like, I will have you crushed under my claws!" Dorbickmon roared. The boys heard the wings of the dragon flap and heard the air as he rushed into the air.

"That's right, he can fly…" Taichi said, wincing.

"We need Omegamon." Yamato hissed, as Dorbickmon started to fire bolts into the mountain side.

"Well, obviously!" Taichi grunted as he tried to peer over the rocks to where WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon were.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Yamato asked.

"Do they look like they are in the condition to try it?" Taichi returned as he thumbed towards the digimon.

"Did they the first time?" Yamato asked.

"Point taken…but the first time we had help, remember!" Taichi replied. "And we don't have the luxury of help this time, and it's their first time…as far as they know."

"Right, I keep forgetting that…" Yamato said frowning.

"None the less, we do need Omegamon…" Taichi said as he looked over the rocks to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. "We're just going to have to really be in synch, like Takeru and Hikari are with Iori and Miyako."

"I know that you really love Sora…." Yamato said suddenly.

"What?!" Taichi said, blinking at Yamato.

"Yeah, I know, and you know what…I was kinda proud I took her away from you." Yamato said; his eyes closed. He opened them. "You know, at first, now it's just kinda, you know, awkward sometimes, but look I understand and I'm kinda cool with it, you know…in a friendly understanding sort of way."

"I-bu-NOW!?" Taichi stammered. He narrowed his eyes "You want to do this now!?"

"Yeah, we should all be on the same page." Yamato shouted, glaring at Taichi.

"I-I," Taichi stammered. A blast exploded near them. He narrowed his eyes. "Now is not the time, and this isn't helping us synch our hearts or whatever!"

"I know you've had feelings for Sora, like everyone has, since when we nearly got nuked when we first made Omegamon." Yamato said firmly as he grasped Taichi's hand.

"Look, I don't love Sora, I just want to make sure she's ok." Taichi said narrowing his eyes.

"Because you love her…I get it." Yamato said smirking and patting Taichi on the shoulder.

"STOP IT!" Taichi yelled and clenched his fists as his face turned bright red.

"It's why you and Mimi didn't work." Yamato said off-handedly.

"No, me and Mimi didn't work because I was having nightmares about children being murdered by dragons and I didn't want to scare anyone so I bottled it all up until I had crippling anxiety every time a wild digimon showed up in the human world!" Taichi shouted loudly and angrily. He breathed tightly. "And now, I'm terrified we'll all die just like Daisuke, but I'd rather take one for the team than risk having to watch someone else die because I'm not a good enough leader! But your dumb face had to stick around, instead of running like I told you!"

Yamato sat back. "Wow…dude…." Yamato leaned in and hugged Taichi close. "You know you can always talk to me, you should've come over. You don't need to carry this all alone…it's literally what I'm here for."

Taichi started to cry and wrapped his arms around Yamato. All the while Dorbickmon continued his blind attack on the mountain. That's when they felt it, an up-well of air. Taichi and Yamato opened their eyes to see a cylinder of light engulfing them. They stood up and clasped their hands together and climbed to the top of the rocks.

"So you finally have decided to come out of hiding, and die!" Dorbickmon roared from above.

"No," Yamato said sharply as he lifted his D-3. "We're here for a little thing us humans like to call…."

"Round 3…." Taichi said as he lifted his D-3.

Light erupted from their D-3s and arched back to WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon. The two digimon were lifted from their prone positions. Their bodies dissolved save their heads and a new single torso and legs were congealed into place and burnished in white armor. A head emerged from the torso as the WarGreymon head and the MetalGarurumon head locked into the ends of the arms. A brilliant golden cape unfurled behind the body of the newly merged digimon and it sliced out the WarGreymon head unsheathing a transcendent broadsword. It lifted the MetalGarurumon head, whose mouth opened, revealing the barrel of a supreme cannon.

"Get him Omegamon." Taichi and Yamato shouted.

The knight rushed upwards and pointed its cannon arm towards Dorbickmon. Bolts of blue energy exploded upwards. The dragon dipped and dived sweeping between the blasts until there were simply too many coming in for it to dodge. The dragon snarled and summoned the engulfing magenta flame to one hand where it spun itself into a shield. The bolts of the knight's cannon smashed into the shield driving the dragon back as the knight rushed upwards. Omegamon swooshed past the dragon; its cape flared as it swung its sword arm up and then brought it crashing down. The flame shield broke, the flames flared out in front of Dorbickmon as the sword sliced in front of the dragon.

"You cannot stop me!" Dorbickmon snarled as he grabbed one of the streams of flame that were angrily trying to escape and seemed to whip it into the form of a sword and charged Omegamon.

Omegamon's and Dorbickmon clashed, the two swords met, the holy blade against the infernal blade. The struggle though left Dorbickmon open, and Omegamon stepped through it as the cannon in the mouth of the MetalGarurumon head pressed against the torso of Dorbickmon. It took only a few seconds for the dragon to realize the oversight. Those few seconds of tardiness would be the last few second Dorbickmon was afforded as the blasts annihilated the vast majority of his torso. The remainder of Dorbickmon tumbled to the mountainside.

Taichi narrowed his eyes as he heard it, a howling laughter. The remnants burned as they fell and he heard the laughing.

"You only grant me my reward digi-destined!" Dorbickmon's voice called out. "But do not fret my master will see that all achieve this freedom…yours will come all too soon…!"

Omegamon touched down in front of Yamato and Taichi. The knight's aura seemed to spill outwards towards Valdurmon and JumboGamemon. The two mega digimon seemed to rouse from whatever unconscious state they had been in and rose.

"We need to find the others, and catch up to the younger kids." Taichi said as he looked out across the expanse. Even at this great distance he could see the smoke billowing from the Rosa de Venus.

 **888**

 **AN: Still here…more or less. I've been sorta personally busy lately, difficult to explain. Anyways hope you enjoy, working towards it…working towards it….**


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